Erin Jaeger
by SlayQueen16
Summary: Her court ruling is that she must stay with him at all times. Fem!Eren x Levi
1. By His Side

**Story: Erin Jaeger**

 **Chapter One: By His Side**

Erin placed an ice pack on her jaw and winced. Her whole body ached and throbbed in pain. She sucked in a sharp breath when she felt another sting because Hanji place ice on her swollen arm and her incredibly upset stomach. She had to swallow the blood forming in her mouth from her broken and split tooth. It's been a long time since she was beaten this badly in her human form. Being the kind of person that she was, the teen caused quite a bit of friction between her and her peers; she learned to defend herself pretty quickly.

"I'm sorry for the pain that my subordinate has caused," she heard Commander Erwin say. "But your pain is our gain. We couldn't allow the courts and civilians take away a potential asset to drive back the Titans. Erin Jaeger," he said, turning around and walking over to her, "it's a pleasure to be working with you."

"U-uh, it's a pleasure to work with you as well," she said awkwardly.

She took his outstretched hand shook it once, twice. It was an honor to be addressed this nicely by the leader of the entire Recon Corps, but it was hard to try to keep from stuttering and sounding like an idiot. She figured she did pretty well until she got the crap scared out of her by none other than the guy that she was having questionable feelings about.

"Hey, Erin."

She jumped at his voice, and the hand that slammed down on the back of the couch behind her. It scared and startled her simultaneously so much so that she released Erwin's hand. Green orbs looked over at Levi confusedly, shyly. She really didn't want another beating and she was in no condition to try and fight back. So, what the hell did he want from her to the point that he needed scare her?

She tried to remind herself that the corporal did this to show that her Titan transformations weren't triggered randomly or when she was enraged. But still getting the shit kicked out of her wasn't exactly a day in the park. She tried to keep in mind that it wasn't personal and he actually wanted her on his squad. But she was unsure of his intentions. And that was unsettling.

"Do you hate me?" he asked her.

Why did that mean anything to him? Did it honestly matter if she hated him or not? They were going to work alongside each other regardless. But she supposed if he cared enough to ask that meant he didn't hold as much malicious intent as she initially thought. That was a good thing. It would make things less heinous since she honestly wouldn't want the crap kicked out of her again.

"No," she said uncomfortably. "I-I understand why you did it."

"Good," he said, crossing a leg over the other and closed his eyes briefly. Was that relief? She couldn't tell he was very difficult to read simply because the man didn't emote well. He reminded her of Mikasa.

"Sheesh, you could've held back a little," Hanji said. "You even knocked a tooth out."

She opened a cloth to indeed reveal one of her bicuspids with its fresh roots dangling from its enamel causing blood to stain the napkin. It was gross and Erin glared at the nasty thing in confusion, uncertain as to why she would keep something like that. It was gross and it didn't seem useful unless it went back in her mouth and reattached itself to her gums.

"That's filthy. Get rid of it," Levi said.

"No," Hanji replied. "It's a sample I have to study. Say, Erin," she turned towards the teen excitedly, "may I see the inside of your mouth?"

"Uh sure," she said uncertainly.

She opened her mouth awkwardly. She hadn't opened her mouth to anyone since getting her teeth examined by her father, the doctor, for medical issues since she was ten years old. It was weird and uncomfortable as the scientist searched the inside of her mouth. The older woman gasped and caught the attention of everyone in the room.

"It already grew back," she said, amazed.

X

The outside of the courthouse was gorgeous. Sunshine was out, but it wasn't brutally hot thanks to the thicket of dogwood trees creating plentiful shade. And the river adjacent to the building was a beautiful, clear blue. It was a beautiful day. It stood in deep contrast to the anxiety and gloom Erin was feeling.

Yes, she was joining the Recon Corps, but at what cost? Sure, her bruises and cuts have healed, but what's to say that Levi won't get pissed off at her and try and attack her. Not to mention the man was also supposed to kill her if she stepped out of line. That made bats swarm all around her stomach at the thought. She wasn't always the easiest person to hang with when it came to opposing personalities and ideals. Ask Jean.

She shook her head and mounted her palomino Sunshine, preparing to ride wherever the squad had planned. She patted the horse's neck sweetly before all of them headed on. Erin pulled her hood up and tried to ignore everyone and keep to herself. She's had too much excitement and too many faces today. Yes, she'd had worst days and circumstances. Like when her mom was killed and eaten by Titans in front of her, her comrades were killed by Titans in front of her, and her arm and leg were bitten off. But if she could avoid shit she didn't like and didn't deem necessary fine by her.

But she couldn't ignore one thing.

Eyes. She could feel intense and potentially dangerous eyes on her back. The poor teen felt her skin crawling along her back. Cautiously, she turned her head towards the source. The color in her cheeks drained at the sight of Corporal Levi's practically lethal glare. He was so intense and seemed as if he wanted to drill his eyes into hers. Quickly, she turned back around wishing to forget about that gaze. Her cheeks colored in embarrassment.

"Wait until we get back to the old headquarters, we're about to show you what we do to new com—" his horse's hoof knocked onto a rock and Olou bit his tongue as a result.

Soon, the teen was walking along the main pathway of the Survey Corps headquarters. She, along with the other new recruits, were going to get new uniforms for their division in the military. But she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the familiar faces of her two best friends.

Then the teen rushed them and basically hug-assaulted both Mikasa and Armin from behind. She heard the gasp of shock from the both of them and didn't care; she just held them tighter.

"I missed you guys so much," the Titan-shifter said happily as she pulled back.

"We missed you too, Erin," Armin smiled, looking more like a blonde coconut head as the days passed.

"Are you okay?" Mikasa asked immediately, grasping the other girl's smaller hand to keep her attention. "Did they hurt you? Did they psychologically torture you?"

"No," she said, feeling a little uncomfortable by her adoptive sister's scary face. "I'm fine."

"I'll be sure to kill that stupid, little troll," she said darkly. "He'll get what's coming to him for hurting you in court."

Erin pulled her hand away from Mikasa's grasp and took a comfortable step back as she scratched the back of her head uncomfortably. When it came to protecting Erin, her adoptive sister, Mikasa sure knew how to be one scary, lethal person. It was kind of flattering knowing she was valued enough for Mikasa to go those lengths, but Erin also wanted to prove that she was capable of defending herself. After all, it wasn't uncommon for people to be jealous of Mikasa. The teen was incredibly strong, beautiful, and level headed. All traits that anyone would kill for, but nobody would dare cross her… except maybe Levi.

"So…," she heard the voice of none other than her most hated rival behind her say, "you're alive, Erin."

She let out a long sigh of irritation before turning around to face him, "What do you want, Jean? Come here to get your ass handed to you again?"

He narrowed his eyes at his short rival said venomously, "I was going easy on you because you look as delicate as a daffodil."

"Funny coming from the guy who was almost mounted by a stallion because of your stupid horse face," she said.

Several cadets laughed at that and Jean's face exploded in red. He grasped the collar of her shirt and pulled her to the tips of her toes. Their faces were mere inches from each other. The two of them looked at each other angrily. Rivalry sparked between them in fiery spurts. He wanted to beat her up since things so easily to her… especially her adoptive sister. It drove him crazy.

His eyes traveled down from her face to where his hand was clasped. Was that her…? His eyes were glued on the cleavage revealed because of the grip on her shirt. A small smirk crossed his face lewdly. It took Erin a moment to follow his line of vision and when she realized what exactly he was looking at anger erupted inside her like a volcano.

"You pervert!" she growled.

Her fingernails sunk into his face and pushed him back. Hard. He stumbled backwards and fell to the rocky ground. But she wasn't finished with him yet. Her anger was like fire when evoked; it consumed everything. She drew her fist back, ready to knock his teeth out for staring at her breasts like that and sexually objectifying her like that.

But a hand grasped her wrist, keeping her from punching his stupid horse face.

"Let's go, brat," a deep voice said. "You can punch your _friends_ later."

She turned around and faced the corporal. "Give me a minute," she said. "I have to rip this bastard a new one for being a flaming pervert." she tried to get her hand free, but his hold was adamant.

"You don't have that luxury," he said. "You're under my ward, brat, and I say it's time to go."

"And I said give me a minute," she said emphatically. She squirmed in his grasp, trying to break free from his hold.

Levi's eyes narrowed marginally, his grip tightening on her wrist and she winced. Very rarely did someone disobey him, especially a subordinate that was half his age. He wouldn't stand for it just like how he wouldn't stand for a dirty, well, anything. Do as he said or he got annoyed.

Levi began to drag the teen away by her arm as she gave her rival a huge glare. Then she proceeded to try and squirm out of his grasp. She wanted to get the hell away from him in order to beat the shit out of Jean in a fit rage.

"You're ass is grass, Kirstein," she said angrily.

After a few moments the the Titan-shifter calmed down, so the two walked in silence; she didn't know what to say to him. He was very different from most people that she knew. First, he was older than her by around ten years she'd guess. He looked to be in mid-twenties. Second, he was apathetic like Mikasa, but he said weird and off putting things like Sasha. Yet, he was clearly world weary due to his age and long time spent dealing with the Titans — the bitterness gave that away. She didn't know how to approach him verbally, but she was up for the challenge.

"Heichō," a woman's voice said, "that's no way to treat a lady."

She looked up and saw a young woman about the same size, dressed in the typical soldier wear with the exception of a bandana pushing her hair out of her face and one over her mouth to keep out dirt or gas. She was Petra Ral. She had her hands on her hips as she looked at the corporal. It was obviously an expression of mock anger, mere playful scolding. She then took Erin by her arm gently and dragged her inside the castle they were staying at.

"Honestly, that's such a poor way to treat a lady. If he wasn't my corporal…," she mumbled under her breath, mildly frustrated. Then she addressed the woman she was leading into the castle. "Alright, Erin, since you're new to the squad we have two rules you must follow no matter what: follow all of Levi-heichō's rules, and don't die."

Straight forward enough. Two completely different things, but nonetheless clear cut and dry. She could handle that.

"Well, get to cleaning," Petra said cheerily, handing the teen a broom.

"Why?" she asked curiously.

So what if the place was a little dirty. As long as there wasn't a possibility of a bacterial infection then it was alright. In fact, as her late great mom put it, if someone regularly live in a house and it's not just a little bit dirty then you shouldn't trust them. Erin agreed.

"The corporal's a clean freak," Oluo said.

"Don't use the word 'freak' to describe Levi-heichō," Petra chided him as she began sweeping up a pile of dirt with her own broom. "There's nothing wrong with being neat." she looked uncomfortable at the statement as she focused on the task at hand.

"All of you shut up," Eld ordered them.

Erin didn't know what to make of all of them. Clearly, Gunther hated her guts and didn't trust her for a second, Oluo spoke his mind, Eld was very serious, and Petra was sweet. That was quite a lot to process in a short amount of time. So she just listened and began to sweep on the other side of the room from Petra as the men took smaller rooms and spread out.

"I'm going to another room," Petra announced to the fifteen year old. "You stay here, Erin, and start dusting. Levi-heichō will be here any minute so hurry!"

She was gone, right out of the room as the brunette picked up a feather duster. She stood on her tip-toes on top of a wobbly chair, pulling up the white bandana over her mouth to protect herself from the dust. Then she began to dust the tops of the furniture. She got most of it. She found the entire thing ridiculous and didn't think Levi would be as bad as everyone was making him out to be about cleaning.

Speaking of the devil, Levi stepped into the room. He expected to find Petra in this room, but instead he saw the even shorter, younger woman. His current subordinate. His eyes roamed up her body, checking the dangerous way she stood on the wobbly chair, and the half-ass way she cleaned the book shelf.

"Brat," he said, announcing his presence.

"Ah!" she exclaimed in surprise. Then she wobbled, broke the chair, and crashed to the floor. "Owww," she whined, rubbing her back gently as she stood slowly, achingly. Then she rounded on the reason her back was throbbing, "What the hell's wrong with you? You don't sneak up on a person when they're on a rickety chair. Idiot!"

He walked forward, pushing her out of the way. She scoffed angrily. He slipped on his white bandana over his mouth and opened the window and lots of dust escaped the building from the new opening. Levi leaned back and gave Erin a look, serious as ever.

"You took the risk yourself on that chair and you get to pay the piper. Also, you clean like shit," he said seriously. "Do it all over again."

"Whatever. Get better chairs, so I don't bust my butt trying to follow your orders," she said softly with puffy cheeks, looking at the corner of the room with a mildly annoyed expression. Clearly, she was put out.

"Don't stand on chairs you know you'll bust your dainty butt on," Levi shot back, ignoring the expression on her face by quickly averting his eyes to the mess. "Get to work."

Quickly, Petra and the men were behind by a short ways away. She was concerned for her corporal, a hand clasping her sheathed sword, ready for use. The amber haired woman didn't trust the teen yet; she barely knew her.

"What happened here?! I heard a loud crash."

"It's fine," Erin said, waving her hands around, eyes closed, and a shaky smile on her face. It was clear the young woman was nervous. "I just fell and broke the chair."

"She exceeded the weight limit," Levi said, sweeping expertly.

"No, I didn't!" she shouted, hands balled into fists. "Don't call me fat, you ass."

Petra, Gunther, and Oluo laughed loudly at her as Erin flushed further in embarrassment. Thankfully, Eld and Levi weren't laughing which sort of saved face for her. Not much though. It certainly didn't make up for what Levi did. She was uncertain about him before, but now she knew that she didn't like him one bit. Fat jokes asside, he was a rude prick. It seemed she would be dealing with an apathetic version of Jean. And it certainly didn't help that he was her superior and the ward who had permission to slaugher her if he deemed it necessary. It was a scary amount of power for one man and she didn't like that whatsoever.

 **AN: Reviews make me update faster.** ㈶1


	2. Friendships Blooming

**Geekygirl/Hakeem/Ai saka/Judy: Yep, I'm updating now. Thank you! ㈳7**

 **Guest: Yeah, Levi isn't exactly a sweetheart is he? Then again, he's never really been exactly 'nice.' ㈴1**

 **Chapter Two: Blooming**

She didn't know how she got off on such a horrible wrong foot with Levi-heichō. Even when she plugged the hole in Wall Rose a couple weeks back she vaguely remembered him being rather… _put off_ by the fact that he had to save her and her friends. Then to make matters worse, in the cell before her court hearing, he called her a monster. The icing on the cake though was him kicking the shot out of her in court. That was definitely the worst. But things weren't getting any better seeing that he still bullied and intimidated her.

What was wrong with him?

She would love to get along with such an expert Titan slayer. But he was making it impossible.

After all the cleaning across the, now far prettier, castle Erin was exhausted. Never had she cleaned so much in her young life. Her corporal was ridiculous; the place didn't need to be _that_ spotless for crying out loud. It was as if he was attempting to avoid the plague with the help of bleach.

She slumped heavily on the wooden chair of the dining table. She sighed loudly, dropping her head across the back of the wooden chair. She tried to relax as she took in gulps of much needed air. It wasn't that she was particularly winded, it was just that it was soothing.

"First days are rough, aren't they?"

The brunette looked up curiously as to who said that and saw that it was indeed Petra. The teen saw the knowing smile on the young woman's face. It seemed there was at least one kind person to her in this castle. All the men living here either didn't trust her all that much, didn't particularly care except to make really crude jokes or gestures, or were the completely silent and repressed type.

Erin was glad to have at least _one_ person who actually seemed to care. _Someone_ who acted decently around her. _Someone_ who wasn't so harsh to her when she voiced her issues and concerns. She was glad to have Petra around. It was nice to have another woman around who understood some of her problems. It wasn't as if the men weren't observant; the thing was they just didn't particularly _care_ all that much. Unlike Petra. And Erin was grateful.

"Definitely," she said, sighing and resting her head back for a few more moments. "I don't think I've ever worked so hard at cleaning such a giant place in my life. Ugh, it's exhausting and ridiculous." she lifted her head again as the men started to file in unbeknownst to them. "Do we have to do this every time we go to a new place? Because let me tell you I—"

"Yes, we will. Cleaning is a top priority."

The voice was directly behind the little Titan-shifter. She jumped in surprise, nearly tipping over and off the chair. Not to mention the hair on the back of her neck stood straight at the proximity of a mouth near her ear. Rarely did anyone get _that_ close unless they meant physical harm. After all, she was a soldier in a cruel world where humans fought for their lives on a daily basis. Gentleness hasn't been a thing for her since her mother was eaten.

"Sheesh," she said, looking at the source of the voice, "give me a heart attack, Levi-heichō!"

He ignored the comment, keeping a small smirk at bay at succeeding in once again scaring the brunette. He took a seat as the rest of the men did so beside their leader and the two women. He knew Erin was giving him a nasty look, so with only his eyes he gave her an equally menacing look. And as the moments passed by he noticed that she wasn't backing down. Odd. It's been quite a few years since someone wasn't terrified of him. Either she was an idiot or suicidal. Maybe both.

Suddenly, Petra burst into laughter.

"Oh, you crack me up!" she laughed loudly, clearly forced. "Erin, Levi-heichō you're so funny!"

Everyone now looked at the amber-haired woman confusedly. Why was she laughing like that? Wasn't that rather ridiculous at the moment? Regardless, it seemed to work. No one was glaring any longer and they were incredibly distracted by Petra's outrageous laughter. If that was her goal that is.

"Um," Erin said after the laughter finally ceased, "I think the word everyone's looking for is 'anyway,'" she said as Petra flushed in embarrassment. " _Anyway_ , what are my sleeping arrangements? Will I have my own room with the rest of the troops or a special little prison because I can't be trusted? Because to be honest I'm so exhausted from all that cleaning I could just skip dinner and head straight to bed." she gave Levi the stink eye once more briefly.

"You will be sleeping in the basement," he said, looking at her with narrowed eyes. He took a sip out of his tea cup, tongue peeking out briefly to lick away some of the liquid residue around the corners of his mouth. "If you spontaneously transform everyone will be informed and we'll terminate you immediately." then he set his tea down and a small scowl marred his features when looking at the fifteen year old. "By the way, watch your tone, brat, unless you wished to be punished again."

An ookay feeling sat at the pit of her stomach.

"Hello! Hellooooo~!" Hanji cheered, bursting through the room. "Ooh, is this a bad time?" she said looking around at the scene before her.

"No, it's fine. Get on with your business, Four Eyes," Levi said, giving Erin one final warning look.

Immediately, Hanji practically skipped over to Erin and grasped her hands enthusiastically. It immediately brought the younger woman's attention fully on the scientist. And what the Titan-shifter saw wasn't exactly comforting. Drool slipped down past Hanji's lips and her cheeks flushed bright red.

"I can't wait to experiment on you! I'll get to know more about those lovely creatures everyone calls Titans!" she said, voice shaking with dramatism. Then her tone turned more serious when she looked back at the teen as if she was dealing with lives. "You're going to meet me at 6:00 am tomorrow morning, right?"

"Y-yeah," Erin said uncomfortably.

She strongly reminded Erin of Sasha Braus. They were both very eccentric and wild in a kind of funny way. Although, the teen doubted Sasha could do scientific experiments like Hanji. Either way, Erin had trouble interacting with the somewhat crazy types.

…

Later that night Petra helped Erin with her and showed her a few things to pass Levi's cleaning inspection. Why they had a cleaning inspection still struck the teen as odd. Initially, the corporal said he'd do it, but the amber-haired woman said she'd be happy to and told him to go get some rest. Levi complied and that was the end of that.

Now, the two women were setting up the newbie's bed in the fashion that was up to their leader's standards. It was fairly silent. At times, Erin tried to start up a conversation, but couldn't find the right words. She felt like a fish out of water; opening and closing her mouth when trying to find the right words. But thankfully, Petra said something and relieved her of trying to start a conversation.

"So… how do you like your first day, Erin?" she asked when tucking the sheets under the mattress.

"Uh…," the teen began uncertainly, looking up and pursing her lips briefly. "I honestly don't know. I'm sure I'll feel better about it all when I've gotten a good night's sleep."

"It's Levi-heichō isn't it?" Petra asked, looking the teen in the eyes. That earned an uncomfortable laugh from the Titan-shifter as she scratched the back of her head uncomfortably. Petra sighed and continued, "He may be hard to talk to or deal with at times, but I believe that he's a good man. I know; I've seen it."

Erin saw the conviction on Petra's face. She _truly_ did Levi is a good person. It made Erin wonder… did Petra, you know, love Levi or was it just intense loyalty? The teen liked to think that it was both and she couldn't help but wonder what it was that made the amber haired woman like humanity's strongest soldier. Clearly, it wasn't his _winning_ personality unless you liked reserved assholes that beats you up in court to prove a point. Doubtful. It must be something else.

"Why do you think so highly of him?" Erin asked.

"Well," her cheeks flushed as she looked at the pillow in her hands as if it was the most interesting thing in the room. "When I was furthering my rank I hit a wall. No one was willing to give me a promotion because of… well… because I'm a woman. I was frustrated and angry about my situation and well I nearly got myself killed by a Titan. When I was in the hospital I thought about giving up completely…," she closed her eyes briefly, "but then Levi-heichō showed up and told me he wanted me as one of his own personal squad members. He told me that if I gave up my life than he would lose something very valuable. Once again, I had hope and purpose for myself again all thanks to Levi-heichō. For that, I owe him life."

Erin was stunned. Something that kind and helpful came from her asshat of what she likened to a parole officer. That didn't sound right, but she doubted Petra was lying. The teen figured Levi did it for purely selfish reasons even if he _did_ end up saving her life. The Titan-shifter just refused to believe that something like that would come from the guy that kicked her in the face multiple times during her court hearing.

"Wow," was all she could muster when her fellow squad member looked at her expectantly. "That's just… wow."

"I know," Petra said softly, blushing deeper as she set the pillow down on the center of the bed. "So, now you understand why I hate it whenever someone bad mouths him, right?"

"Yeah, I get it," Erin said beginning to put her changes of clothes in the rickety old dresser. "My sister Mikasa gets angry whenever someone insults or tries to hurt me too. She usually just throat punches them and that's the end of that. But I _keep_ telling her I can handle myself and she just doesn't listen." Erin laughed lightly, lighting the mood a bit. "She probably misses me and I miss her too."

"Your sister sounds great," Petra said. "Well, I'm gonna head on. You're good with putting your clothes away, right?"

"Yeah. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

When Petra shut the door behind her Erin let out a long sigh and flopped on her bed tiredly. She figured she'd put her clothes away another time. Right now all she wanted to do was strip herself of her pants and bra and go to sleep without an interruption or a travesty happening for at least eight hours. After all, it wasn't like her life was laughs a plenty. No. Whether it be stabbing and killing a guy to save her sister, encouraging Mikasa to do the same to save to her, or watching her mother die horrifically it wasn't exactly something one puts on a hallmark card. It all could be blamed on one thing….

"I'm gonna kill all the Titans," she said sliding her exhaustef body under the covers to curl up for sleep.

 **Author's Note: Please review** ㈴2


	3. Trust is a Terrible Street

**Squid: Thanks!**

 **Chapter Three: Trust is a Terrible Street**

 _A kick was delivered to the side of her cheek, a knee to her forehead, hair pulled. He pulled her bruised and broken face up by said hair and brought her face close._

Eyes were pulled closed tightly as they thrashed all throughout at the memory and sensations of being brutally abused.

 _"You gonna dissect her or not?" he said, near the teen whilst he looked menacingly at the judge and the military police. "Well, if you try and touch her… I'll kill you…. She's mine." He tilted her head towards him in order to shove his tongue right between her panting, gaping lips, licking and stroking all around hungrily. And, in turn, she wrapped her lips around his tongue, sucking hard._

"Ah-hah!"

Erin sat up bolt right, panting harshly as sweat ran down her body in droves. To say she was freaked out was an understatement, but thankfully when trying to catch her breath and calm her heart rate the dream was slipping away from her thoughts. And before she knew it she'd couldn't recall it. She just assumed it was another nightmare about her mother's death.

She got on with her day. She stretched largely, attempting to loosen her body. She smiled when she heard the tell tale pop-pop-pops from her joints in relief. Erin ruffled her long brunette locks everywhere, enjoying the light scalp massage before deciding she needed to get up. She needed to get dressed in her typical soldier garb.

She yanked on a bra over her head and arranged it properly over her chest into a comfortable position. Then she slipped on a clean pair of jeans, socks, and a shirt. Next was her 3D Maneuver Gear: she buckled on the straps on her legs, waist, torso, and shoulders. She then placed her sword holsters on her thighs and the gas tanks on top of each one.

"Yea," she said sarcastically as she started up the stairs. "Another day, another drama."

She bounded the stairs to get out of the basement and when she opened the door she saw Petra about to grab for the door knob to her own floor. She looked at the older woman in confusion.

"Um… Petra-san, what are you—"

"I was about to check if you were ready. Levi-heichō doesn't appreciate tardiness."

"Oh okay," she scratched the back of her head, the bun she didn't bother taking out last night bobbed lightly. She was slightly uncomfortable, but it wasn't anything to worth about. "I guess we should go now then," she said.

The amber haired woman nodded and the two of them walked down the hall together. Soon Gunther, Oluo, and Eld followed in with the women as they headed out to the training field. Well, the newest member of the squad, Erin, had no clue where she was going, so she simply followed in closely by Petra since she clearly was the nicest out of all of them.

Confusingly, Petra just sat on the wooden picnic table and after a few moments of hesitation she sat down next to her newest friend. Why were they just sitting around and where was Levi. She thought he of all people would be incredibly punctual and be there on time. Erin turned to ask the other woman about this.

"Um… Petra-san, what are we waiting for and where's Levi-heichō?"

"Oh, the arrangement is that we come first to prepare the field for your experiments and then he and Hanji show up."

"Oh okay," she said. "But, um, shouldn't we be helping them set up?"

"No, I've got 'em trained so that they'll do all the work for me," she winked.

"Okay," she laughed and smiled.

The two women began to chat amicably, laughing occasionally, and receiving dirty looks from their teammates who were putting up a protective fence surrounding area around a deep narrow hole. It wasn't quite fair was it? Why did the ladies get to sit around and shoot the breeze?

"You know, this would go a lot faster if you ladies leant a hand," Oluo said.

"Sorry," Erin said with a sarcastic smile, "I was raised the old fashion way: women have the babies and the men dig the holes for the transforming Titan Ladies."

Petra laughed and the men just glared at the two women for this. After a moment Oluo managed a smile and a chuckle. Eld just ignored it, getting back to work. Gunther, however, sneered at Erin's smiling face, distaste of the highest degree was evident.

Suddenly, a loud voice over the laughter said, "What are you doing?"

Immediately, the team was standing at attention at the interruption of their superior. He told them to be at ease and they did. Erin looked around from Levi's face and the rest of her comrades' faces, wondering if they were in trouble. She didn't think she or her squad mates did anything in the wrong… except maybe her and Petra for slacking off. But other than that, nothing in particular.

"Let's get on with our trials," he said. "Now. Four Eyes, get out here."

The trials went on for hours and hours and they weren't getting anywhere close to what triggered her transformation. They stuck her down a well, beat her up — she simply regenerated — even put her in incredibly dangerous situations, and even put stimulating drugs in her. None of it furthered anything in the experiments. How would humanity utilize her Titan power if they couldn't activate upon command.

"Uhhh," she sighed softly, dropping her head down on the picnic table. "This is hopeless."

"Um, Erin, you know that side of the table has ants," Petra said.

"It doesn't matter at this point. Today was officially a bust."

"There's always tomorrow. You know Hanji loves experiments with all kinds of Titans… the harder to crack the better," she said enthusiastically.

Erin slowly lifted her head, knocking a bunch of ants away, "I guess you're right…. You know, Petra-san, you remind me of my friend Armin. He's always been kind and smart. God, I miss him and Mikasa."

"Aw, thanks," the amber haired woman's cheeks flushed.

"Alright, enough talking. Get to eating," Eld said.

He handed Erin a spoon to eat the soup he set down in front of her. A tired hand went to grasp it, but it slipped from her fingers. It landed in the grass a small distance away from her. She let out a small sigh as Eld apologized.

She thought nothing of it and went to grab the utensil when something went horribly wrong. Her arm transformed into a meaty lean Titan one. She gasped in shock, but not just for the arm clasped around the spoon. She was surrounded by several deadly steel swords pointed at her throat. She closed her eyes in fear.

"Enough!"

Erin opened her eyes slowly. She shook in surprise when she discovered where she was. An arm was secured around her shoulders, smashing her head into the side of his neck (where she could see goose bumps rising on his skin from panting breaths). Somehow in mere seconds Levi had detached her from the Titan arm and got her away from all the swords that were drawn and aimed at her.

"Let go," she told him, scrambling out of his odd embrace without any resistance. Then she looked at her comrades and told them truthfully, "It was an accident. I swear. I just wanted to grab a spoon and then boom Titan arm." she flushed in embarrassment and laughed drily and uncomfortably.

They slowly sheathed their swords. Gunther still kept his hold on the handle of his sword in contrast to Petra who looked guilty for turning her blade on her new friend. Years of hatred and violence towards the Titans conditioned her to turn on anything resembling a Titan… even if they were her friend.

"I know that," Levi said.

Erin turned to face him confusedly. How the hell would he know that? But then again she supposed that was the reason he easily got her away from all the deadly weapons. She figured he obviously wouldn't do it simply because he didn't want her to die. Of course not. He did tell her that even though she was under his ward he said he wouldn't hesitate in killing her if she was to prove a hazard.

"It seems that unless she has a goal she won't transform. No matter what situation we put her in she didn't transform, but when she went to pick up a spoon she transformed. I think all of you owe the brat an apology."

"I'm sorry, Erin," Petra immediately apologized, grasping her hands, "we're friends after all." She noticed her new friend winced when her hand squeezed a certain spot on her hand. She looked down at the younger woman and saw the slowly fading deep bite mark there. "Wow, that looks like it really hurts." she turned to her male comrades. "Everyone, let's bite our own hands to show Erin that she's officially one of us. Come on now!"

The guys — excluding Levi since he didn't draw his blade against her — looked between each other, wondering if this was necessary to make things right between them and Erin. Sure, she was a sweet girl with a temper that sometimes reared its ugly head, but they were still a little apprehensive of the Titan-shifter. Nonetheless, she worked alongside them and shot the breeze with them like any other teammate.

So everyone, aside from Gunther who kept his eyes narrowed at Erin, took a bite out of their hands. They all made their own noises of pain at how painful it was to turn into a Titan for humanity. They had a little more an insight of the young woman.

"I can't believe you have to feel this every time you transform," Petra smiled grimly.

"Yeah," Erin said, smiling appreciatively.

 **X**

"So… Oluo," Erin said, by him as he began putting the equipment away, "is Levi-heichō always like that?"

"He can be quite the hard ass."

Erin looked around to see if Petra or Levi was anywhere near the vicinity. It didn't seem so. A wicked grin crossed her face as looked back at her teammate. Oluo was a little apprehensive of the young woman, but nonetheless curious.

"Do you want to hear something funny?" she asked mischievously.

"Always."

"Okay, this is how we wish Levi-heichō spoke to us," her face transformed into one sweetness as she clasped her hands together by her face, "clean it up when you have time, okay?"

He chuckled slightly. That gave her some confidence that'll it be at least decently funny since she hadn't even gotten to the punch line. After all she'd been thinking about this one since that monstrous amount cleaning she had to do yesterday.

"This is Levi-heichō actually speaks to us," her face went from insane wild rage in the next second when she screamed shrilly, "What the fuck happened in here?! Clean this up, NOOOOOOOOW!"

Oluo and Erin burst into laughter. It's been so long since she's laughed so hard and it felt so nice. She missed laughing and feeling happiness opposed to stressing about well… everything. Never once did she really have a moment of peace ever since Wall Maria was breached and taken over by Titans. It felt so good to laugh with another human being even if said human being didn't fully trust her. Nonetheless, it was satisfying and oh so refreshing.

But suddenly, Oluo's laughter stopped abruptly. When Erin noticed this, she curiously asked him what was wrong through a fit of dying laughs.

"What?" she sighed, wiping a stray tear from her bright green eyes. "Why did you stop laughing?"

He cleared his throat uncomfortably and looked back and forth between her face and whatever was beyond her. Her face furrowed in confusion when he hastily said he had to go and took off at a brisk pace. Weird. Oluo didn't usually didn't act like that from what Erin gathered.

"Odd…. Whatever," she shrugged. Then she turned around and Levi's serious and frightening face was right there. Literally right there. Mere inches from her face with nothing but a scowl present. And it scared the absolute crap out of her. "AAHH! Ah!"

Her legs and arms wanted to do several things simultaneously: fight and flight. But seeing as that wasn't humanly possible it all amounted in her stumbling backwards into the grass. She whined softly with a few gasps of breath, trying to calm her erratically beating heart. It's been awhile since someone had genuinely scared her like that.

"No, no, you're right in my face!" she said, wiping a hand down from her forehead to her chin. "No… ah no."

He continued to look down at her, unamused with her antics and how she portrayed his personality quirks. But he wouldn't let that get to him. After all, others didn't get to him emotionally or physically, so why should she?

After all, he didn't let anyone close enough to hurt him especially after the deaths of the two people he treasured most dearly in his own passive way. Nope, he wouldn't let that happen again no matter how much he craved intimacy on a physical and mental level. Physical needs were easily taken care of and he'd done so for years, but they weren't lasting or satisfying. It seemed that sex was only truly satisfying when it was with someone you loved. But as stated before, he refused to get close to anyone for that to be a possibility, so he relied on temporary fix-its.

"Get back to work, Jaeger, or do you want to be punished?"

"No sir," she said softly, still trying to recover from that particularly nasty jump scare. She knew she deserved it for being a stereotypical a-hole, but honestly did she have to have the crap scared out of her like that. She got enough of that from fighting Titans. Whether that be actually transforming into one or fighting one didn't particularly matter because they were both strenuous and terrifying simultaneously. But nonetheless her goal was to kill all the Titans and protect what's left of her friends when doing so.

 **Author's Note: Reviews make me update faster.**


	4. Helping the Drunken Mess

**Chapter Four: Helping the Drunken Mess**

"Petra-san, where is everyone going?"

The two of them were walking alongside each other behind their other comrades. The teen didn't know where they were heading in the slightest after a long day of experiments with Hangi Zoë, the crazy Titan obsessed scientist. She kind of wanted to go back to her basement and sleep until tomorrow when the experiments would no doubt continue. But she also wanted to hang out with her new friends and continue to grow the trust she worked hard to establish with them.

"Well, the castle is completely clean and we're done for the day, so we're going to local bar… most likely to get drunk," the older woman smiled. "I mean what else is there."

Erin stopped walking, planning to turn around to which Petra noticed immediately. She turned and was about to say something to the younger woman, but she saw Levi come up behind the teen already. She kept quiet and watched the scene unfold.

"Keep moving, Jaeger, don't stop when someone's behind you," he said right in her ear.

She jumped once more and turned around to face him. What was this some kind of fetish for him? Scaring the crap out of teen girls under his ward? It seemed so because this had happened several times now. Honestly, it was as if he enjoyed eliciting that kind of reaction out of her. She hated it.

"Dammit, Levi-heichō!" she cursed, stomping her foot. "Quit doing that! One of these days I'm gonna get whiplash!"

"Stop whining, brat," he said.

He walked past her, bumping shoulders on purpose with her and walking around the other woman. Petra looked at Levi's retreating figure briefly before turning back to Erin who was glaring daggers at the corporal's back. The ginger-haired woman didn't know what was up with them and could feel her stomach twisting annoyedly.

"Why is he so mean to me?" she grumbled.

The older woman forced a smile. "I guess it's because you're the only who challenges him in this squad and he doesn't like that," she said. Petra grasped Erin's arm to keep her from going and said, "Oh come on, let's get going. I think it'll be fun to have another girl join us."

"O-okay," she said.

The older dragged the teen down the street at light jog to catch up to the others that didn't stop on their account. Well, once they were all in the bar they got seated at their respective and large booth. Each of them, excluding Erin, had their own alcoholic beverages whilst the teen had a stamp on her hand.

"Ugh, why do I have to wear this stupid stamp," she said, itching the back of her hand.

"It's so you don't booze it up," Petra said. "You are fifteen after all." she winked playfully.

"Oh please," she said rolling her eyes, "only losers drink alcohol."

Her comrades looked at each other uncomfortably as they put down their glasses. But the teen didn't notice this and simply got up. She went over to the crowd that was dancing to a mild live band, trying to enjoy herself.

"Well, that kid either makes me laugh my ass off or makes me feel bad about myself," Oluo sighed, taking a swig of beer. "I like her."

"Me too," Petra said.

"Same," Eld said.

"So we agree that she's likable," Oluo said.

"I wouldn't say that," Gunther said.

The team looked at him skeptically. What was his problem? Erin is a nice girl and she's on their side. She's proven that in or out of Titan form. And well yes, they should be wary of the teen just like anybody else, but that didn't mean Gunther had to be a jerk about it.

"Hey, Gunther, what's your problem?" Petra called him out on it.

"I should be asking you that, Petra," he said. "Erin is a Titan and we kill Titans or they kill us. Have you forgotten that?"

"Of course not!" she said incredulously. "How could you ask me that?!"

"Enough," Levi interrupted swiftly. "Shouting like this isn't accomplishing anything. Now, what's important is that you've showed good faith to her and she is an asset to humanity. Honor that good faith, Gunther, or do you want a two month suspension in the hands of Commander Pixis."

"No sir."

A silence fell upon them. Petra smirked at Gunther for Levi pretty much taking her side on the matter. Even though she wasn't the only one with that opinion she couldn't help but feel a little proud of herself for having him on her side. After all, she had dedicated her everything to him and the cause. Plus, she didn't particularly appreciate Gunther insulting her new friend Erin like that.

Time had passed. Erin continued to dance with other patrons of the dilapidated bar as her new teammates and leader continued to drink. They left the teen out of conversation topics for good reason, seeing as all it did was cause arguments and Levi did threaten those who argued again, so that was no longer an issue at the moment. One by one as the night grew later they started leaving to go back to the castle until soon it was only Levi and Erin left.

After polishing off his seventh bottle of beer he was about to go get the teen. He stood and headed, albeit a little unsteadily, towards her when he was intercepted by an angry looking man. He ignored said angry man and planned to weave around him, but the guy placed a large meaty hand on his shoulder preventing him from doing so. Levi looked at the blonde man with slightly unfocused eyes. What the hell did he want?

"What do you want?" he slurred.

At the realization that Levi was drunk he hesitated for a moment, but after that pause he quickly regained his anger at the man. "What do you think I want, you damn dirty excuse for a corporal!" he voiced some of his rage. "Under your division my brother died! What the hell do you have to say for yourself?!" he demanded, squeezing harder on the short man's shoulder.

"People die," he slurred.

The angry man drew his fist back, ready to punch him right in the face. "Dammit, you little—"

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

A small hand grasped his meaty wrist and effectively stopped it despite its size. Angry brown slits met confused green orbs. Neither one of them were going to back down.

"Go away, kid. This doesn't concern you," he said.

"Actually, it does. That's my corporal right there," she said. "So back off."

"This is your last chance, kid," he warned.

"No, this is your last chance, buddy!" she said. "Back off!"

They were starting to grow an audience, a riled up crowd actually, cheering them on to fight. It wasn't helping the situation at all, in fact it was simply making it worse. The guy was feeling pressured to indeed to knock this girl on her ass and be done with in order to not be called a wuss. But then again if he beats up this under five foot fifteen year old girl then he'll definitely be branded an asshole. Dammit! Fuck it all. He shook his head went for it.

He pivoted himself properly in order to try and punch her with the hand that wasn't in her grasp, but that was not to be. It seemed Erin wasn't exactly as fragile as the eye perceived. Her free hand got him around his thick neck, pushing back, as her leg closest to him kicked him in the leg. All of it equated in him landing ass up and humiliated all thanks to Erin learning that special move from Annie the hard way.

The crowd erupted in cheers.

"Don't mess with people who are important to me again or you're ass flapping in the air like that will be the least of your worries," she said venomously before heading over to her corporal. She clasped his arm and wrapped it around her shoulders in order to support his weight. "Come on, let's go home," she said as they began to walk towards the door.

Levi looked at Erin confusedly for a moment. Did she really just…? Did she honestly just get in a bar fight to save his drunk ass? This fifteen year old girl stood up for him like that and was now carrying him home?

Odd. He could've sworn, like most people, she hated him because of his bluntness and general rude apathetic behavior. No one stood up for him or was willing to pick him up when he was down. It was usually the other way around. Most people either steered clear from him, admired him from afar, or admired him up close. No one was willing to pick him up when he was down.

What was this strange feeling welling up inside him?

Normally, he wouldn't let such feelings occur any longer, so what the hell was it? Was it appreciation for not getting a black eye and maybe a broken rib or two? Maybe, but that didn't quite fit the bill. Was it happiness? No, not completely; it was a factor but not exactly it. Admiration?

He snorted in amusement.

Like his drunk ass was admiring someone. Pft, that was for little girls, fans, and love birds. Not for soldiers who had to be emotionally vacant in order to get the job done right. Ha! Levi admiring someone for sticking up for him and carrying his ass home, even drunk he dismissed the idea entirely. After all, he didn't need her. He could do it, just like everything else, by himself.

"I can walk myself, Jaeger," he snapped coldly.

"Uh, no you can't," she said, "unless you want sleep in the streets tonight."

She continued to walk him towards the door despite the unfocused protests to get out of her arms. She didn't know why he was being such a baby and refusing her help. Honestly, she was just trying to be nice and help out someone who was generally an asshole to her. This was pretty big of her, not that he would be thankful in any way possible, now would he?

"W-wait," the bartender said, "what about his bill?"

"Put it on his tab," she said. "He's not in any state to pay right now. Thanks Gerald!" she gave him a strained smile.

They continued to walk on. It seemed that his tactics have changed the few blocks they walked together. Instead of fighting against her tooth and nail — albeit very poorly — he had decided to start lean on her. And by the time they reached the castle he was practically all over and in terms of mobility he was the equivalent of a wet noodle. She chocked it up to him being tired and drunk, but honestly how much longer did she have to put up with this nonsense?

"Okay, come on, Levi-heichō, you need to get to bed," Erin said, feeling like she was speaking to a small child opposed to her superior.

She tried to keep them moving towards his bedroom considering how difficult it is when a man who's taller and weighs more than you is refusing to cooperate. He was too busy preading against her and blowing in her ear, causing an annoying tickling sensation to crawl up and down her neck. She attempted to ignore this, but it was starting to grate on her nerves and make her uncomfortable.

"I don't wanna sleep unless I get to spoon your naked body, brat," he said in complete seriousness. Right. In. Her. Ear.

Her face flushed bright red at his open admission of what he wanted to do with her. Not only that, no one had ever talked to her like that; it was either nice, neutral, or mean. Never sexual. It was completely odd and foreign to her and it didn't help the fact that he was leaning on her for support and heading his bedroom. Honestly, she didn't think she could be more embarrassed at this time than all her other embarrassing moments combined.

"Ugh, you're so drunk you'd probably hit your head on your bed and die," she said, trying to dismiss the entire thing as they entered his bedroom.

"No I wouldn't," he slurred.

Since his face was practically already there he began to nuzzle his drunk face at a sensitive spot behind her ear, making her jump and laugh immediately at the ticklish sensation. She tried to get away as she squirmed from the touch. However his grip on her opposite cheek and the fact that he was leaning on her made it impossible for her to escape his ticklish wrath.

"Come on Erin," he said, "don't you wanna sleep with me?"

"Hahaha, stop it that tickles," she giggled, squirming.

Apparently, the Drunk Levi is the Anti-Levi. Why the hell was he suddenly being incredibly affectionate and playful with Erin? Well, it seemed his defenses were pretty much down. He denied it earlier when he was still sober enough to try and still reject emotional and physical affection from someone who seemingly gave him the same. But now since he was exhausted and still intoxicated all inhibitions were gone.

"Don't cha wanna sleep with me, Erin?" he continued to nuzzle and further tickle her as his hand aimed for the hem of her skirt.

Then quite suddenly the tickling ceased completely. After a moment when she realized that she was no longer being tickled she looked over to her superior curiously. He seemed to be passed out on his bed. He was positioned awkwardly on the mattress from landing oddly. The teen sighed loudly, silently vowing to never get hammered like that in her life.

She knew she couldn't just leave him like that since he'd most likely fall off the bed during the night. Especially considering half his body was hanging off the mattress. She grasped the man's leg and with a soft grunt she pushed him over to the middle of the bed, no longer in danger of toppling off. Well, her work here was done, time to head on down to the base—

That train of thought stopped dead in its tracks when she felt hot arms wrap around her stomach and crush her back into an equally hot chest. She squirmed and looked at him confusedly. Really, she thought he passed out for the night already. Apparently, that wasn't true yet considering he held onto her like she was his lifeline. "Levi-heichō," she gasped. "Let go!"

Nope, that was not to be when he finally permanently passed out for the night in this position. His deep even breathing and his arms temporary tightening around her waist gave that away quite well. Immediately, Erin started to try and rectify this problem by peeling back his fingers. But this was not to be. He had an adamant hold on her and wasn't going to let go.

She let out a shaky breath and tried to relax. It seemed that this was where she was sleeping tonight. And of course this didn't bode well for her; after all, she never slept with anyone before. In any sense. She tried to ignore the heavy breathing in her ear and neck, and the heated muscles of his body against her back and legs.

But that was near impossible.

After a few moments of relaxed breathing she began to relax more comfortably as the little spoon to his big spoon. If she imagined that it was someone she cared about opposed to someone who constantly teased and ridiculed her it seemed to work. In no time she was nodding off to sleep in her corporal's arms.


	5. Hangover Anger

**Lynn: Aw, thank you. I was doubtful about it, but then I realized that hey it would work if Levi was drunk and that was why I put it in. ️ ㈴2**

 **Chapter Five: Hangover Anger**

The next day Erin was up bright and early. For a moment she forgot where she was and she sort of freaked out; after all, her corporal was holding her around her stomach, breathing hot air against her neck, and was pretty much plastered to her back. The body heat he emitted was overwhelming against her cold and smaller one. But then she remembered what happened last night. Levi happened to get drunk off his ass and ended up getting in a fight she had to finish. Then she had to take him home, and he refused to let her go when he fell asleep.

She sighed softly.

She began to lightly pull at his fingers to try and remove his grasp on her long skirt and buttoned down shirt at her waist. One finger after another started to slowly peel away and she had high hopes he wouldn't wake up. When grasping the third finger to pry him off she felt him shift. Oh no. She feared she'd woken him and stiffened rigidly. However, it turned out she was turned towards him. Her head was held against his chest, seeing how that was where his arms shifted.

 _Why me?_ she thought miserably. She tried to think of a way to effectively get out of this situation and get back to her basement before her comrades were up to do their daily duties. But she was distracted at the sound of such a strong heartbeat in the chest she was pressed up against. Not only that, now her nose was overwhelmed with the strong smell of alcohol and what seemed to be his own unique scent underneath that.

Erin sighed as she rationalized that she needed to leave Levi. Now. This wasn't good for either of them especially if he woke up holding someone half his age to his chest. She honestly wouldn't know what to say and figured she would just get kicked in the face from his wrath. So she used the bed underneath her hands as leverage to push herself out of his arms. She began to slide right on out until the only thing he was hugging was himself.

Phew, what a relief!

Now, she could easily ditch him and avoid making a mess of the situation. If she was lucky he wouldn't remember a thing from all that beer he had last night and just assume someone else helped his sorry butt. That was the a pretty good idea and turn out. After all, Erin knew just by talking to Petra that she had something more than simple gratitude for Levi. The hopeless romantic in the teen secretly rooted for them to be together. Perhaps Petra would take the credit.

Now all she had to do was—

"Erin," she heard her corporal.

"Eep," she squeaked softly.

From the corner of a fearful eye she watched him to see his no doubt angry face. But when she looked over her shoulder she saw that he simply turned over yet again in his sleep and happened to mumble something as well. Thankfully, this time he held the blankets close to his body with his back facing her.

She let another sigh of relief as she opened the door to leave.

That was far too close for comfort. She really didn't know what she'd do if he caught her leaving his room when the scene looked like a drunken hook up. The problem is that she didn't know what Levi would do. Would he kick Erin in the head or what? The point is she didn't want to find out, so she was going to make herself scarce.

Quietly, she snuck back down to the basement. She made sure to avoid squeaky floorboards and to open the door incredibly slowly so it wouldn't sound like she was entering a haunted house. She shut the door behind her and sunk to the floor for a moment. She tried to calm herself from all the anxiety of being caught in her superior's room by either said superior or her new comrades.

Her legs shook slightly as she buried her face into her arms and knees.

She had never slept with anyone in any sort of way and it disturbed her that last night she laid side by side and pulled into his arms by someone who hated her. It was creepy and not what she imagined would be her first time. To be honest Erin had never really given it really much thought when it came to sex and falling in love. It was all about saving what little she had and destroying all the Titans.

Falling in love and sleeping with people?

Her face flushed and she shook her head slightly. Thinking up pervy things like that when the possibility of such a situation was probably impossible was not good for her. True, her hormones were fairly rampant at the delicate age of fifteen where she was going through the miserableness of puberty. Puberty mode was fully engaged and had its 'controlling' effects over her at times. But she wanted to kill all the Titans and finally be free more so than to supposedly 'repopulate' the Earth by having a lot of sex.

She shivered at the thought.

The teen stood and decided to put all those thoughts aside to get ready for the day. More experiments awaited her and horny thoughts were not good for that. She began to dress quickly, removing her buttoned down shirt that Mikasa gave her and tossing it above her dresser and then slipping off her long shirt for it to join the shirt. She switched out her pair panties and bra for a clean pair of them. After that she changed into her usual shirt and white jeans. Then she began to hook belts all along her body and slip on her boots. She was ready for the day.

Erin didn't have the time or the desire to brush her hair, redo her bun at the back of her head, bathe, or brush her teeth. Even though she generally slept fine, a strange and plaguing feeling had swept over her. She tried to shake the sense of gloom. Not only was she separated from her childhood friends and her 104th Training Regiment buddies as well, but she began to realize what her situation and eventual fate would be.

Her body was shaking softly and she slipped down back on her bed. She buried her head in her hands, her forehead almost touching her knees. She's almost died several times, more so than she could properly recall, if she didn't have her Titan powers than she would clearly be dead now. Was that how she was going to end up? Dead. Like Marco? He was talented and his will was strong, yet he died in a most degrading way and never achieved his dreams. Would she end up like that?

No!

She clutched her hand into a fist, nails digging into her skin, leaving stinging little half-moon marks in her skin. The mild pain helped her snap back into reality. Erin told herself that she would remain strong in this, hope for the best and not think of her death otherwise it would most likely happen. She wouldn't dare give up on her dream. She had to rid herself from her doubts in order to keep focus and remember the freedom and beauty the world had to offer when the Titans were eradicated. She just had to keep her spirits high.

Knock!

Knock!

Knock!

"Erin?" she heard from the door in a sing-songy voice. "Are you in here?" She knew who that voice belonged to. It was none other than that Titan-obsessed scientist. She guessed today would be like yesterday, except with far more accurate experiments being done since they have a better understanding of what triggers transformations.

"Alright, I'm coming," she said.

She got up, feeling a little bit better, but still a little shaky on the dismount. She approached the door and opened it. And she was indeed greeted by her scientist friend and of course Hanji had a million and one questions.

"Did you drink last night? Oh boy, I wonder how that affects your Titan powers. Do you feel hungover? I wonder if you can transform or not when introduced to alcohol. Oh I can't wait to—"

"Um, Hanji-san," she interrupted kindly enough, "I didn't drink last night and if you want to get straight to doing experiments all you have to do is ask." Erin gave the older woman a soft smile.

"Awe!" she said, grabbing the teen's cheeks and squeezing them tightly. "You're just the cutest little thing ever! Let's get to experimenting!"

She grasped her slender wrist and dragged her along the hall with a slam to the basement's door. Honestly, Hanji was only truly happy when finding out more about the Titans. Erin was beginning to fully realize this. She just happened Crazy Titan Lady wouldn't go too far.

"By the way, Erin," Hanji said, "aren't you supposed to get permission about this sort of stuff from Levi?"

"No," she said quickly, wishing to avoid Mister Grab-You-And-Force-You-To-Spoon-Him-In-The-Middle-Of-The-Night-While-Drunk. "No," she said in a slightly calmer tone. "No, it's fine. It's not as if he owns me, I'm just under his ward after all."

"Alright, it's your face that gets kicked in not mine," Hanji shrugged.

 **X**

Hanji set up various goals in order for Erin to try and accomplish after biting her hand. They ranged from pushing an object to saving a comrade stuck somewhere. All of it was considered a goal worth transforming for and worked successfully. And clearly, the older woman was far more ecstatic about it than the teen.

But this happiness and momentary success was short lived when an angry Ackerman came into the picture. Gulp. Poor Erin she just could never catch a break.

"Yes!" the teen said, jumping into the air. "I did it!"

"Did what?" she heard a calm and collected voice loud enough to catch her attention.

She bit her lip and closed her eyes in brief annoyance. Would he honestly never leave her alone for more than what she was comfortable with? She was already apprehensive and wary about seeing him again after last night. But honestly, that all depends on if Levi remembers or not.

So she turned around slowly and forced an uncomfortable smile on her face and closed her eyes for fear of seeing a scary face. "Um, I just succeeded in transforming. H-how are you this morning? Anything in peculiar happen?" she asked.

She was blowing it, she could feel it. She hadn't asked such a question before, so why would she do it now unless she knew something? She could feel the pressure of his gaze on her even with her eyes closed. She had to open her eyes and look in his face or she feared she'd burn to ash.

She couldn't put it off any longer and opened her eyes. She received a calculating look that reflected mild skepticism. She forced an innocuous smile that she hoped he wouldn't see right through. After all, she didn't exactly do well under pressure when it came to dealing with people.

"I'm fine, brat," he said.

Phew.

"You're punishment is cleaning the bathroom stalls five times over until they shine," he said. "And no complaining."

So much for relief.

All that shy, uncomfortable, under pressure crap stopped right there. She looked at him with narrowed fiery emerald eyes that practically scorched. Erin was not amused and clearly pissed about this punishment. Why did he always operate with a log up his ass?

"What?"

"I'm not repeating myself," he said. "You have to wait for me and the rest of your squad in order to do these experiments. I expect those bathrooms to be spotless."

Could she punch him in the gut and expect not to be punished further? He was just so infuriating sometimes she really did want to resort to violence. But she was already on thin ice with entire military and, well, humanity, so she didn't exactly have room to outright knock his ass out and shove another log up there out of spite.

"This isn't fair," she said through gritted teeth. She wasn't aware of the rest of their squad gathering and listening in on them. "Am I supposed to wait all day for your hungover ass to get out of bed? If you hadn't noticed Titans don't just disappear, so I would like to get with exterminating them as quickly as possible if you don't mind."

 _Now_ Erin was aware of the crowd she and Levi had created. The squad they belonged to was looking over at them and murmuring to each other, most likely wondering if Levi was going to actually physically punish her or just tack on more cleaning tasks. Either way, talking back to the corporal wasn't going to go unpunished.

"A brat will always be a brat," he stated, taking a step towards her and her unwavering green eyes. "And brats need to be disciplined."

He raised his fist, preparing to strike. And likewise she closed her eyes, readying to be hit. If she didn't fight back she wouldn't get in a lot of trouble and he would be the one looking like an asshole. But then again this wasn't exactly a pleasant method, in fact it was the exact opposite. Maybe she'd kick him in the shin after all.

Petra, Eld, Oluo, Gunther, and Hanji looked back and forth between each other and then between Levi and Erin. They didn't know if it'd be another beat down like in court that day or not. Some were silently encouraging a fight between the two and the others were concerned for the teen's safety. So when he finally lowered his fist to punch her at an alarming speed it was no surprise that some of them gasped.

The teen was incredibly tense, preparing for impact. But what she felt was a small thump; she wasn't sure whether or not she was imagining it. One eye opened slowly to see what was going on rather fearfully. His face was impassive like normal as his fist still rested atop her head. She opened both eyes and straightened up fully. A deep scowl set in when he removed his hand and inched closer to her.

"I have no intention of physically punishing you, so stop trying to start fights with me," he said. "It won't end well for you if you keep doing so."

Erin looked at him strangely. He sure didn't seem to have an issue with that on the day of her trial where he kicked the shit out of her. But then again, she saw his point whether she liked it or not. But honestly, what was with the sudden attitude change? That didn't make any sense to her. To be frank, she just figured he was being weird again.

 **Author's Note: Review please ㈳7**


	6. Unintended Skinship

**Chapter Six: Unintended Skinship**

There she was scrubbing away at the nasty floor of the public bathing area that was used by everyone including the corporal — who if there was one too many smudges on the ground he refused to bath there. Figures. She always did find him rather prissy when it came to cleaning. What? Did he think cleanliness lead to manliness? She snorted in amusement.

"What are you laughing about?" Petra asked.

Erin turned around to look at none other than the only person she thought liked her in this place. She smiled at her and warned her to be careful since it was slippery everywhere due to the soap. But the older woman, nonetheless, dropped to her knees beside the teen. She began to help her with her cleaning punishment slowly and surely.

"Oh, you don't have to help me with this," she said, waving her hands around rather quickly and uncomfortably. "This is my punishment after all. Haha ha."

These words fell on deaf ears. The amber haired woman continued to scrub the floor with a passive face and the teen she was helping uncomfortably got back to what she was doing. She didn't understand why someone generally very cheerful was giving her the silent treatment. What did she do wrong?

"You know what Levi-heichō means to me," she said softly. "But I never asked you what Levi-heichō means to you." she looked up with serious brown eyes. "Tell me, what does he mean to you?"

"Huh?!" Erin asked, completely and absolutely thrown by this.

"I asked you… what does Levi-heichō mean to you?"

By the look of her face she wasn't messing around and that further confused the teen. What did Petra mean by 'what does Levi-heichō mean to you'? What kind of crap was that? She was acting like she liked him and… ohhhh. Now this all made sense.

A small sigh escaped Erin's lips. "Petra-san," she began.

"And I would appreciate it if you would be completely honest with me," she said, there was a catch in her throat.

"Petra-san, I don't like Levi-heichō like that," she said sincerely as possible. "I just think of him as my corporal and that's it. In fact, I'm pretty sure he hates me actually."

She placed a hand on her shoulder to try and reassure her that it was indeed all it was. She had no intention of pursuing or feeling romantically inclined towards her corporal. Getting along was the only goal Erin had for him and her, so Petra shouldn't worry about it.

"Are you sure?" the amber haired woman asked, trying to keep tears at bay.

"Yes," the teen stressed this matter. "If you want to try and go out with him all the power to you. I'm kind of rooting for you guys actually." she smiled lightly.

A small smile grew on Petra's face at the sincerity of her new friend's words. Did that mean Erin wasn't a threat to her love life? Or should she say an attempt at a love life. But Petra could've sworn she saw something between Erin and Levi. She couldn't honestly recall a time when the corporal didn't find physical punishment to be the most effective method when disciplining a 'brat'. Could it be that he was the one who had a thing for her?

No. Just no. Absolutely not.

Levi didn't like anyone in that fashion, the most Petra saw him come close to an 'intimate' relationship is when he'd have a one night stand once in a blue moon. Most wouldn't even consider that remotely intimate. And to be quite honest she thought she would be the one to be in a romantic relationship with him not Erin.

But hearing the teen say that she had no intention of pursuing Levi reassured the older woman. She felt a little better. But it didn't put to rest the nagging worries of the corporal liking the teen. And honestly, the thought made her stomach turn; Erin is fifteen years old and fifteen years younger than him. It wasn't okay.

"That's a relief," she smiled.

"You know I don't really like him like that, so you don't have to worry."

"Thank you, Erin," she smiled slightly.

Narrow expressionless grey eyes were watching the teen and woman from around the corner of the men's side of the public bathroom. It didn't surprise the man that Petra had a deep rooted crush on him. That was obvious to anyone who had working eyes. It didn't particularly affect Levi in anyway since he already knew that. No, what caused him to linger in preparing for a shower was the fact that little Erin made cracks about him hating her.

Levi didn't understand why she thought he hated her. That day in court was simply an act to show that Erin's transformations weren't triggered by simple anger or multiple wounds like the military feared. No real malice was involved. So why?

He shook his head to clear these intrusive thoughts and decided to proceed with what he initially came here for. To shower. Honestly, why should he care what a little brat like her thought of him? He was humanity's strongest he shouldn't even be thinking about some brat in anyway even if he was confused with her and himself.

To hell with what she thought.

Meanwhile, two women continued to clean, chatting amicably about nothing in particular. And soon the work was almost done. But as the night dragged on Erin could tell by the constant yawns and rubbing of the eyes Petra was getting tired. The teen frowned and decided she could do the rest, seeing as this was her punishment not the other woman's after all.

"Petra-san, you can go to bed. I've got this," she said.

"Are you sure?" she asked mid-yawn.

"Yeah, I'm sure. It's almost done after all," the teen smiled.

"Alright," she said, standing slowly. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Erin waved and smiled as Petra exited the public bathing area. Once gone the teen let out a long sigh and flopped down in the soapy floor. She honestly no longer cared about her clothes and the filth of laying in a soapy wet floor. After all, she was already filthy from all the cleaning and no longer cared for it.

"Am I honestly a love rival when I'm not even competing and rooting for my so called 'rival?'"

She picked herself up slowly, deciding to just get on with cleaning the men's side of the bathroom. She picked up her sudsy water and began scrubbing away at the floors in front of her. As the minutes dragged on she realized just how bad of an idea it was to flop down into that soapy floor. The cold water that soaked her clothes now clung freezingly to her.

"Dammit, she whispered softly to herself. She looked to the left, the right, and then behind. As far as she knew no one was there, so she began to peel off her clothes. After all, if no one was there and everyone was sleeping what honestly was the issue with being naked? Plus, if she heard someone down the hall she'd just run into one of the stalls and hide out until they were gone while she got dressed again. It sounded like a sound plan.

So, she stripped herself of her clothes and put them in a sopping wet pile. She planned to wash that pair tomorrow. And since her skin was bare and damp she shivered once before deciding that a warm shower instead of standing out in the bathroom was much more appealing.

She was about to go into the women's section, but she remember that she just cleaned that and didn't want to go through the mess of cleaning it again. So she figured she'd just use one of the stalls and began to walk towards it.

Due to his lack of a towel, Levi's feet and the remainder of his body was soaking wet and not to mention the floor was covered in suds. He supposed he should have seen it coming, really, knowing his great and terrible history with poor coicindences. But fate was a cruel bitch that just seemed to have it out for him.

He slipped on the cemented floor of the bathroom and wobbled erratically. He tried to save himself by reaching out for a shelf, a bench, anything, but his flailing only made him slip further and jolt sideways, crashing into something.

Something soft and equally naked.

Erin landed hard beneath her, and it sounded as though the wind had been knocked out of her lungs. She gasped painfully when he landed on top of her. His arms caught himself before he could land completely on top of the teen, but his legs and arms gave out when he crashed to the floor.

He just prayed to god that perhaps she had put on underwear, a bra, or something. Something.

But by the feel of it, his legs having landed in an unfortunate straddling position on the poor brunette, there was nothing covering her except him. But what he did feel what must have been a very surprised, very bare, vagina right next to his dick and two small pert breasts against his firm flat chest.

It seemed like the horror, which far outweighed the pain of falling, lasted forever. All he could do was open his eyes and stare into the very wide, surprised emerald orbs below him. His mouth opened and he tried to make a noise, but even that failed him. All he could think was that he was sitting atop his subordinate's naked hips and their chests were touching (among other things). It was so alarming that it negated every move his brain tried to make.

The silence was deafening.

Finally, after what felt like eternity, his brain kicked into action. He stood up faster than he ever had in his life, probably some sort of record. She continued to lay there though, her limp body providing the horrible evidence of what had just happened.

"Sorry," Levi said gruffly. His face burned like the gates of hell, which would have been a preferable location compared to this place right now. Anywhere but in an abandoned bathroom where he had technically just sexually assaulted the teen who's half his age. Fighting the urge to bolt out of the room and not speak to her again, he offered his hand to help her up.

"It's okay," Erin said in an expressionless, dazed tone. She took the hand, somewhat limply, and clambered to her feet. The shock was clearly affecting her too.

"I'm gonna get dressed," she said yet again that evening, ducking her head to hide her crimson face and crossing her arms to cover her body as best she could. He nodded numbly and heard her pad away in the direction of her soaking clothes in a corner.

Honestly, Erin had never felt more embarrassed in her life. She felt like she was legitimately assaulted both sexually and non-sexually. What she felt smash into her body was something she never felt before. A full grown — well, larger than her that is — muscular man had fallen on top of her because of the slippery floor, so she literally felt every inch of his wet naked body against hers slammed into her. And what she felt against a very intimate place was none other than a flaccid penis.

Her face went beat red, burning hotter than she could honestly remember. Why the hell did things always happen like that?

 **Author's Note: Review please**


	7. Things She Wishes to Unsee

**Guest: Sorry you find it boring, but I can't help you there.**

 **CrankyNewt: Thank you very much! I'm glad you like my genderbend fic. I write a lot of them, so I've gotten some practice with writing them. And thank you for saying that this is your favorite fanfic that makes me really happy. ㈴2**

 **Chapter Seven: Things She Wishes to Unsee**

The next few days were the awkwardest thing ever to happen for the teen and the corporal. But mostly the teen. To slam into someone's body whilst being as naked as the day you were born wasn't exactly something easy to get past. And well, these two weren't exactly on the best of terms to begin with. And well, they weren't very good at hiding it.

Petra, Hanji, Olou, Gunther, and Eld could easily see it. Mostly Petra. But it was quite obvious to begin with, every time they were in the same room as the other one of them would leave almost immediately — usually Erin. She would mutter something unintelligible and leave in a flustered mess. When one of the squad members would ask Levi about it he'd just say she was just being a brat and not to pry in matters that didn't, well, matter.

It got Petra to thinking.

Was Erin doing this for her? Did the teen honestly purposely avoid the corporal all for the sake of not getting in the way of her romance? Well, from the short time she's gotten along with Erin, Petra has noticed that she's a thoughtful person when she's made aware of others' feelings. And she was made aware of the older woman's feelings, so maybe she was doing it for her.

But honestly she didn't want that.

Petra felt responsible for the friction between her comrades. Even if she did have feelings for Levi work came first. She knew that was true for the corporal, but was that true for Erin? That, Petra was unsure of and she would surely see what was up with her seeing as the corporal was so tight lipped about it. She smiled warily. Pft, it was so like him to be so emotionally repressed like a big dumb man.

"Hey Erin," Petra greeted the teen. She halted and looked at the amber haired woman rather curiously. "Can I have a word?"

"Have a sentence even," she smiled playfully at her own little joke.

"What? Oh."

She shook her head, temporarily confused. See? She was fine as long as Levi wasn't involved. She was playful and cheerful, so what the hell? Did he suddenly attack her or something? Put a sword to her head and demand everytime he entered a room she must leave immediately?

"I wanted to talk to you about Levi-heichō," she said.

"Uh, Petra-san, I actually need to, um, go now," she said. And she started to flee like a frightened bunny.

"Wait, Erin," she said.

"Bye, we'll talk later," she threw over her shoulder.

She didn't mean to come off as flighty and rude, but honestly one talk about Levi was enough for Erin especially after what happened about five days ago. And honestly, it wasn't easy avoiding Mister I-Have-To-Be-Everywhere-And-On-Top-Everything.

Ooh, that was a bad choice of words considering that night he fell butt naked on her equally as butt naked body. The feel of a muscular male body pressed so tightly against her entire body like he was melted onto her like ice cream. And what she felt against her most private place filled her with white hot embarrassment all over.

No! This was ridiculous.

She was tired of avoiding him and feeling weird about the entire thing. Enough was enough. It was time to get past it and have a workable relationship with her superior officer not one where she would flee like a frightened animal. It was time to take control of the situation and get him back for falling on her like that.

Now, how was she going to do that?

Well, she wasn't exactly thinking clearly. Her anger and annoyances were driving her and fueling to surely do something stupid. Whether that be yelling in his face or attacking him it was hard to tell. And somewhere in the back of her head Erin knew that Levi wouldn't stand for either. But nonetheless she was going for it. Recklessly.

"Levi-heichō!" she roared.

She kicked in the door open with relative ease since it was indeed unlocked and slightly ajar. And the sight that she came across was not something she expected in the slightest from the man she dealt with on a daily basis. White hot embarrassment replaced her anger quicker than a crack of a whip.

"Ah!"

A woman in skimpy undergarments who was sitting atop the underwear clad corporal. And when she burst through the door before they noticed her they were kissing rather feverishly. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what they were about to do and walking in on something like that was… unbelievably awkward. It was indescribably awkward for the teen for not only catching someone in the midst of sexual activity, but for the fact that it was her superior whom rather recently connected his naked body with hers.

God, when will these terribly uncomfortable and confusing experiences with a guy she figured for all intensive purposes hated her except oddly when he was incredibly drunk stop? Yeah, only when he was drunk did he seem to like her even if it was for all the wrong reasons. For crying out loud was there no middle ground for their working relationship and possible friendship?

"I'm so sorry!" she immediately squeaked, covering her flushed face and tightly shut eyes. "I didn't mean — oh god! I-I—"

"Close the door!" the woman shrieked, rolling off her still partner. Clumsily, the teen shut it feeling it hit her back. "With you outside!"

"Sorry!" she said.

Scrambling to get away, she yanked open the door and made sure she was away from the couple. Her heart was pounding and her legs were shaking. Why? Why when it came to the opposite sex and actual sex was she so flustered and shaken? She could fight Titans, transform into a Titan, and kill a sex traffickers without much of an issue at all, but when it came to a romantic relationship between two people it was Shake City: population Erin Jaeger.

She shook her head fiercely and took off into a run down the hall. Her feet thundered on the wooden floor boards noisily. She wanted to get away from that whole nasty scene she was not supposed to see or want to see. For some reason physical exertion whether it be beating the shit out of someone or simply running always took the edge off those nasty festering feelings she had inside her. Who needs therapy when exercise is free?

 **X**

When the woman left the corporal's room that evening he immediately went to the showers to get the sweat and filth off his body. He regretted doing it immediately because of the filth. That's why he didn't hesitate one bit in cleaning himself. And normally, he was efficient and quick about it, but the soap he was running down his body stilled at the constant intrusive thoughts of teen interrupting him. Her expression of pure shock and embarrassment kept appearing behind his eyelids as the hot water pounded his back red.

Why couldn't he get that annoying brat out of his head? Why did he have to get so drunk that she had to fight his battles, carry him home, and cause him not to let her go for the rest of his drunken night? Why did he have to take a shower and leave his towel across the room while the teen was taking her shower simultaneously, so that their naked bodies would collide? And most of all why did being around this brat make him seek the services of a cheap yet clean prostitute.

This girl who was his subordinate and half his age shouldn't provoke this.

She shouldn't be ruining his cool and calm exterior like she does. She shouldn't be affecting him physically and mentally the way she does. Before she somehow unintentionally worked herself in like she has and constantly reminds him of what he really wants he was calm, cool, and collected. Now, these wants and desires were seeping through the cracks in the armor covering his feelings. With that said, he had to distract himself from taking what he really wanted.

His head bowed under the spray of water as his hands rested against the tiles. Why did it have to be a fifteen year old girl who's never had sex, and was so set on the goal of killing Titans that she sasses her superior officer? She most likely hadn't given sex and intimacy a thought especially considering how naïve and goal oriented she was. That and she was just so innocent at times — when that massive temper of hers didn't kick in — that she probably go red in the face and leave the room like she's been doing.

He shouldn't care. He shouldn't. But the nagging in the back of his head and the physical desire from coming in contact with that body of hers was getting harder and harder to ignore. He could still remember how soft and firm her skin was, the way those small pert breasts felt against his chest, how delicate those folds of her genitals felt against his own, and what he remembered most of all was that look of shock on her face looking up at him from underneath him.

Levi grit his teeth in irritation at the familiar feel of blood rushing down south. "Dammit, Jaeger."

 **X**

Finally, Erin was out of breath, fighting for it with her hands on her knees. Her muscles ached from the high speed running on the semi-long distance. Sweat dripped from her body; she was hot and sticky. She hated the immediate after effects to her body after running or any sort of exercise, but she liked the fact that it helped her knock the edge off her stressful time.

 _Where am I?_ was her immediate thought once looking around the general area. She didn't recognize any of the buildings and wasn't exactly looking where she was going during her power sprint. Of all the dumbass things to do she had to get lost in a fairly populated town with several buildings consisting of unfamiliar bars, health care facilities, brothels, homes, and a military barrack.

What was she going to do?

To be honest she didn't particularly care. She needed a break from Levi and his awkward shit for one night. Erin could handle the cold attitude, the possible hatred, the one or two accidents that were legitimately accidents, but walking in on him about to have sex disgusted her deeply. She actually could feel bile rising up in her throat and had to swallow uncomfortably. What kind of maniac didn't lock lock their door when having sex? Unless he wanted to be caught….

Ugh, just no. Absolutely not.

She kicked around some garbage she found on the street absentmindedly as she continued to walk on. Her head was swimming in annoyance at the uncomfortable crap she has to go through just to achieve goals that would finally bring her some sort of peace and closure. Why did she have to have someone who drove her up the wall like this? Honestly, she would punch him learn some more moves from her fellow trainee Annie on how to take him. But she knew she couldn't take humanity's strongest in human form.

The teen took a right and headed into a bar yet again. The guy gave her a stamp on the hand to signal that she was under aged and wasn't legal to consume alcohol yet at the lovely age of fifteen. At least she was around people and not alone with someone she could clock in the jaw and break without any sort of remorse. That and a break from the drama and constant training didn't sound too bad.

She took a seat on one of the bar stools and started to spin around. She was beginning to relax far more in a crowded bar with drunk people than a quiet castle with a bunch yahoos with their problems with either her or what she's doing. That's just sad. How much of a pain in the butt environment can you make for her to vacate the premise just to get a proper breather before diving back in? Apparently a lot.

"Erin!" she heard someone. "Is that you?!"

Said teen looked over and saw none other than her fellow trainees and childhood friends: Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Reiner, Bertholt, Connie, Sasha, and Annie. Erin smiled happily at them and got up to join them. She hugged both her long time friends around the necks. Boy was it good to see them, but she had to wonder… what were they doing here? Why a bar if they can't drink? Then again there's not a lot of fun things to do there except pay for sex at the brothel.

"What are you doing here?" Mikasa asked, sounding fairly happy. "Did you finally escape that creepy midget?"

"Mikasa!" Armin exclaimed incredulously as the rest laughed at the stoic woman's joke.

When Erin caught her breath she answered, "Yeah for now. I'm just glad to catch a break from all that."

"Did he do anything weird to you?" Mikasa asked as she inspected her adoptive sister for any sign of injury or foul play.

"Well, no never mind," she said a little uncomfortably. "You wouldn't believe if I told you."

"Oh please," Jean scoffed, bumping past her. "As if anyone would try anything with this midget."

"Well, the only thing that makes YOU nay is horses!" she snapped at him.

Her friends and fellow soldiers laughed at the typical dynamic between Erin and Jean. It was like old times and it was quite refreshing especially the Titan-shifter.

"What did you say?!"

"Enough of this weird flirting!" Sasha blurted out. "Let's get to eating! I want potatoes!"

How typical Potato Girl wanted potatoes. Then again Sasha Braus the hungriest girl Erin ever met would eat just about anything. She did not have a sophisticated palette. In fact one time, on a date, Erin gave Sasha a piece of sponge and told her to eat it and she did. Only when she told her what she ate did Potato Girl freak out over this. Oh, she laughed so hard that she thought split her side when that happened.

"W-w-weird flirting?!" Jean spluttered.

Erin rolled her eyes, ignoring it and dismissing it as weird jibber jabber from Sasha. After all, she was a bit on the strange side even if it was entertainingly so. So naturally she didn't pay any mind to what she said, but clearly Jean did considering he was acting like a spooked horse. She had to keep that snicker at bay.

Soon, the gang was sitting down and catching up on their week apart. Mikasa, of course, had many questions for Erin as Armin tried to get something that happened back at the base. He managed to tell his best friend that they've been preparing for the expedition at the beginning of next month for the Survey Corps before Mikasa cut Armin off and continued to, in detail, make sure that everything was good with Erin. Thankfully, the blonde coconut was patient.

Meanwhile, Erin was just so happy to be with her friends and be free of that mess she left behind. She'd deal or not deal with it tomorrow when she went back at the end of the night. Right now, she was just enjoying her friends in a fairly nice bar where there's soda for the under aged and a dance floor for people sober or drunk to dance their butt off. That actually gave her an idea….

"Come on, guys," Erin said taking both Armin and Mikasa's arms and started dragging them off. "Let's dance."

So they did. With a little encouragement they were dancing rather happily with the sober and the drunk alike. It was far more fun for Erin than Armin and Mikasa considering she missed them so much. These friends weren't complicated or put her in weird situations like that. You never know how much you miss someone or someones until you've been away from them for some time.

"I love you guys."

 **X**

"Where's Erin?" Petra asked.

Levi's walk from his room to generally inspect the cleanliness of the castle halted. Petra couldn't find the brat whose under his ward. Dammit, did he finally scare off Erin? Well, that last time was clearly her fault for that last one for not knocking properly when wanting to enter someone's room. Though, in retrospect he should've locked it when doing something like that.

He turned, faced the amber haired woman, and asked, "How long has it been since you've seen her?"

"I don't know a couple of hours and I looked everywhere, Levi-heichō."

"I'm gonna kick her," he deadpanned before marching off quickly towards the exit.

Where in the hell did Erin get the idea that she could just wander off and leave the premise like that? Going outside or the other side of the castle was fine, but totally leaving like that wasn't okay. At all. She was under her ward for crying out loud and a good chance for humanity to actually gain Wall Maria back. What was she thinking?

 **Author's Note: Please Review** ㈳2


	8. Infuriating Sexual Tension

**Guest: Yeah, I think everyone is. Including me.**

 **Fanny: Yeah, poor Jean can't express his feelings very well and Erin just doesn't even notice any of it. Most rivalries lead to some sort of sexual attraction and tension — or at least that's the vibe I'm getting from it. And yeah, Erin dating Jean might lead to some good experience for later and get the jealous train for Levi going. No doubt about that. Thanks for reviewing.**

 **Chapter Seven: Infuriating Sexual Tension**

Erin was still dancing even if her friends were taking a rest. She was having too much fun and to be honest it was giving her that same effect she had when she ran all that distance. It was relieving, physically working off all that tension in her body and mind. But when she turned a corner to go use the restroom that stress came back faster than a crack of a whip.

She gasped loudly at who she saw. "What are you doing here?" he demanded of her.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she shot back.

How the hell did he find her? She didn't even have a clue as to where she was. So how did he? And honestly she just wished he'd leave her alone for one night before she dealt with him and other bullshit the next day. One night. That's all she wanted for crying out loud.

"Come on, we're leaving," he said.

"No," she told him straight up.

He said forcefully, getting up in her face, "I said we're _leaving_."

She could see the detailed contours on his face. His typically collected narrowed eyes and impassive face was beginning to betray him. Anger was starting to burn through that cool exterior of his. And to be honest she was rather proud of herself for actually possibly making him pissed off, considering all the times he's pissed her off.

"I'm _not_ going with you," Erin said through grit teeth, not backing down.

Levi could kick her across the face right there and then he was so done with her behavior. Sure, catching someone in the act of sex, and unintentionally having a weird semi-sexual encounter with someone was a pain in the ass, but this was ridiculous. Why couldn't this fifteen year old brat listen to her elder? Her actions and attitude were going to be the death of him one day, he swore it.

"You're under my ward, so you don't get to run out of the castle without any sort of warning like that," he said.

"Well, YOU don't get to just sleep with whores on base like that!" she shot back.

She was so mad in that instance she swore she saw red. That and she couldn't help the satisfaction of seeing him avert his eyes for the briefest of moments. Did he possibly regret it? Clearly, that wasn't exactly a clean method to get your rocks off when prostitutes are known for being unhealthy and filthy people. And anyone who knows Levi knows that he was a clean freak in the strongest sense of the word. Triumph is what she felt deep in her gut at the idea of him being ashamed and unhappily filthy.

He regained his semi-decent composure when he said, "Get your ass out that door before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you out myself."

He grabbed her arm forcefully which she did not take kindly to. He intended to drag her away and end this stupid discussion right here and right now. He was going to get her back to the castle and make sure she never talked about that bit of personal business ever again. But she was as stubborn and resilient as ever. She sunk her nails into the hand that grasped her — which stung by the way — and then managed to pry him off from the shock of that sharp pain.

"No!" she said angrily.

He tried to grasp her again, but she dodged him angrily. She was so tired of his shit and so enraged by everything she blamed him for over the last month. So she actually threw a punch at his face with blind anger. But he immediately caught it with relative ease. She may have had power behind it, but it was sloppy and filled with so much unfocused rage it was easy — that, and his reflexes were top notch.

She gasped in shock at how easy it was for him to catch her fist like that, no one's done that before. And judging by the look in his eyes he was not amused whatsoever and that most likely wasn't the end of it. She tried to catch her breath from all the emotions running through her, but her heart was beating loudly in her chest and making it difficult to breathe. Why did the air feel so hot and thick between them.

Then he began squeezing her fist tightly in his hand and leaning in ever closer to her. How could he do this so easily? She wanted to move away, but she was cornered like a trapped little fawn. Not to mention she was in deep shock at the fact that this was happening pretty quickly. She felt her back come in contact with the wall. He was so close that she could feel his hot clean breath on her face and his body brushing up against hers.

"Don't _ever_ do that again," he said with a certain quieted seriousness.

His eyes dragged slowly from her agape soft panting lips to her emerald jewels that expressed confusion and mostly fear. Levi could feel the tension rolling between him and Erin. He wondered idly if she could feel it too? That little coil that always tightened in the pit of his stomach whenever moments like these occurred? And right now, that deep annoyance and underlying anger he felt earlier was transforming into something he found incredibly distracting and annoying when trying to get his point across.

His eyes snapped back up to her eyes to distract himself from those panting pink lips just a few inches away from his. Because honestly, he would've buried his lips into hers and slipped his tongue right between those tempting lips right then and there just to get a taste of her and provoke some lovely little noises. But he wasn't the kind of guy to go ahead without the green light. And to be honest, that look on her face clearly stated that if he tried to do so he would most likely pay dearly for it in some way.

Erin swallowed thickly at the really odd closeness before anger began taking over the fear inside her. She was sick of Levi and his shit. This was the icing on the cake and she's had enough. So in a fit of blind anger her knee went up and got him right in the gut. Hard. He groaned in pain and sunk to the floor as she took off at a fierce run to get away from him. She just wanted to get away from him.

He should've seen that coming.

But no he had his guard down because Little Levi was excited at the prospect of getting to first base with Erin. He was just lucky that she didn't hit a couple inches lower below the belt. Then he'd be in some serious pain. But either way, he screwed up. After hours of vigorous searching for her he finally found her in a bar for Christ's sake and when trying to get her back to the castle she got away again. He deserved a slow clap of shame for that one.

Just a few feet away eyes blinked back fat tears of misery.

Levi slept with someone on base? He actually brought in a woman you pay for sex onto the military base to have sex with her. He's never done that before. And that really truly stung. It further hammered in the fact that he just didn't want her. Because if he made a move on her and tried to sleep with her then she would give in without question and then if he tried to go back to way things were she would be devastated. But he didn't, so he didn't want her.

Judging by the way Levi was acting with Erin it only had Petra's suspicions deepening. It wasn't the teen going for the corporal. No, he was the one who was clearly lusting after her. And it wasn't just lust. Just lust wouldn't drive him crazy like that. Well, as crazy as Levi could get. Petra knew him like the back of her hand and he definitely had something going on with Erin.

The way he was incredibly hostile towards her when she basically wanted to stay from him as far as possible tonight, the look of regret on his face when she mentioned the prostitute, and the way he closed in on her with those hungry eyes gave it all away. Petra was disgusted. For crying out loud Erin is fifteen years old and Levi is thirty! What the hell was he thinking? Not only was she disgusted, but heartbroken as well.

Today was not a good day.

She ran right out of the place, tears flying from her face, wanting to go home.

 **X**

Erin angrily walked over to the door of her basement, wanting to be left alone from Levi. Where did he get off thinking he could just act like that? He may be her superior, but she was still a human being — contrary to popular belief. True she was in the wrong and could get incredibly punished by this, but so could he for bringing a prostitute onto the base to fuck for crying out loud.

She tried to rid her mind of that disgusting image. Catching anyone in the act of sex is pretty disgusting — that was a given. But why did the sight of the corporal having sex with someone make her want to hurl everywhere and punch him in the gut for it? It filled her with such nauseating anger that it was almost unbearable and would actually might make her upchuck.

"What you did today was incredibly stupid," he said.

She yanked the door open angrily. "Actually, the only stupid thing was that I got caught," she said snidely.

She went to enter the basement and be done with him, but he wasn't done with her. His hand came up above her and slammed the door closed once more. He heard the small gasp of surprise that escaped her. Once again, he was closed in on her in this position. He could feel the heat radiating from her body and had to grit his teeth and fight down his arousal when her entire backside was plastered to his front due to the space he restricted so quickly.

Despite the spike of arousal and the feel of her body against him he didn't lose focus. He grasped her arm with the hand that wasn't on the door and flipped her around to face him. He detected the fear he saw earlier on her face, but it was greatly diminished by the anger scorching in her green eyes. Well, she wasn't the only one. He was done with this rebellious teen behavior of hers even though on some levels it was kind of warranted.

Neither of them were in the right.

He shouldn't have fucked a whore on base without at least locking the door and she shouldn't have run off base to a bar. Then again he shouldn't be lusting and wanting things of that nature from a fifteen year old girl. Well, the penis wants what the penis wants. And to be frank, it wasn't just his penis otherwise he wouldn't be so angry about the fact that she simply wanted to stay as far away from him as possible.

"Let go," she said fiercely.

"No," he said. "You need to listen to me." he took a deep even breath before continuing. "If you keep leaving base without any warning for petty crap like that and I won't be the only one punishing you." his eyes narrowed, thoroughly irritated with her.

"Well, maybe if you wouldn't get drunk off your ass, fall on me butt naked, or sleep around with a whore on base with your door open so that anyone would find you this wouldn't be an issue now would it?!" she shouted angrily. "Then I wouldn't have to get away from you, so why don't you stop bossing me around. You're not gonna make me do anything anymore, asshole!"

Without a word he grabbed her forcefully and slung her over his shoulder.

She shrieked in surprise as he yanked open the door and slammed it behind him. She squirmed and pounded on his back with her tiny fists and made aimless kicks. She hated being handled and losing control of the situation like this. And no matter what she shouted to try and get him to put her down it was futile. Levi simply wasn't listening and threw her down on the bed.

"Well," she huffed angrily, sitting up and crossing a leg over the other and then crossing her arms over her chest, "I guess you can." she grit her teeth in absolute annoyance at how easily things go to shit for her when it came to him. He also seemed to get the benefits of these bad situations. He got to get drunk and his ass saved. He got to have sex someone. And what did she get? A jack load of baggage and bossed around.

"Don't leave again," he said before mounting the stairs. He was gone and she was left to stew in anger.

 **Author's Note: please review.**


	9. Startling Revelations

**Fanny: (love the name by the way) I was actually a Jean/Eren shipper and kind of a Mikasa/Jean shipper before Levi entered the picture and pretty much stole the Eren ship and sailed away. And now all I can see is Jean and Levi being jealous of each other when it comes to Erin and well Erin not putting up with it one bit.**

 **CrankyNewt: I know what you mean. You're waiting forever like how the manga for SNK only updates on a monthly basis and the new season for SNK (I'm glad they're not doing filler though) won't be out until 2016 supposedly. It's annoying. That's why I like to update quickly because I know how that feels. ㈴6**

 **Guest: Yeah, Levi getting a prostitute pregnant… HA! That would be so hilarious! Just imagining the look on his face just punches me in the giggle dick. ㈳8 Phew, but in all seriousness if you sex professionally you probably have a system to try to keep yourself from getting pregnant because having a kid while doing one of the most desperate jobs out there is a really bad idea. And a fun fact about condoms: rubber ones did exist back in the 1800's. But then again with humanity being killed off so easily by the Titans they probably want as many babies as they can and focus their energies for inventions and manufacturing elsewhere.**

 **Chapter Nine: Startling Revelations**

Hanji took a seat down across from her heavily drinking corporal. Even though no visual indicators brought her to the conclusion that Levi wasn't happy she's known him long enough that she could just tell. And considering the fact that he was hitting the liquor pretty hard tonight gave the mad scientist clarity that something clearly went down tonight. Well, she'll just have to get him to spill his guts to her and be done with this.

"Jeez, save some for the rest of us," she said teasingly.

"Back off Shitty Four Eyes," he said, taking another swig.

"Alright then Crabby Pants, if you're going to be like that let's get to what I've come here for," she said and smirked. "You like Erin."

He choked mid-swallow and sat up in order for the bitter liquid to go down properly. That and the fact that he wanted to know if this was some kind of joke for crying out loud. He falls for an annoying brat? Pft, this must be a joke. He didn't like anyone in such a fashion; he put a stop on that nonsense after he experienced what it was like to lose someone you care about.

"Don't say stupid things," he said.

"It may be stupid, but it's true," she shot back with a shit eating grin. He wouldn't have reacted that way if it wasn't true. "You like her. Admit it. You _like_ Erin. For some reason you like this new recruit and you're drowning your sorrows because she doesn't want you back." she laughed shortly. "If it wasn't so sad it would be kind of funny, you know that."

"I'm not drowning my sorrows, Four Eyes," he said as he yet again took another swig. "I drink. I'm an adult, so I drink. It's normal." he grumbled. Again, him feeling things for a teen brat was pretty far fetched. Sure, some things have happened between them and she clearly was generally his type physically and personality wise, but…. "I don't love the little brat." he said bitingly.

Her smirk grew twice its size. "I didn't say 'love'," she said. She laughed quietly to herself and stopped immediately at the extremely icy glare she received from him and swallowed uncomfortably. She may have had a point, but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to be pissed in his own passive way.

"Why are you riding me on this?" he said. "I just want drink hard liquor by myself."

"I wouldn't be here if I hadn't heard what happened with Erin from Petra," Hanji said. "If you want her to like you, you have to apologize for upsetting her. And you clearly did because she ran away to her friends to get away from _you_. Whether you were wrong or right you apologize anyway for hurting her feelings."

"I don't need people lessons from someone as crazy as you," he said, his words were beginning to slur from the next sip of the hard liquor.

Apologize? He didn't apologize when the other was in the wrong even if he was in the wrong as well. He didn't think he hurt her feelings for crying out loud. She was always angry when someone said something mean or did something mean. He doubted he was any different. Sure, she probably had to take care of drunk clingy older men, had naked guys smash into her own naked body, and caught the same guy having sex with a prostitute. Right? No, probably not to be frank. Maybe he should apologize.

"Hey, I may be a Crazy Titan Lady, but at least Erin likes me," she teased.

"Shut up, Shitty Four Eyes," he grumbled.

Hanji started to laugh lightly. "Erin likes me more than you," she teased. "Erin likes me more than you. Erin likes me more than you. Erin likes me more than you." she repeated this little mantra happily.

He took a deep breath and closed his briefly, trying to calm himself. The constant teasing from Hanji and the fact that Erin does _indeed_ like her more than Levi. Did she really hate him? After all that mess at base and the way he acted when she wouldn't go back to the castle with him suggested that she might, but then again she could've just been pissed that she wasn't allowed any peace and quiet from him. After all, they pretty much saw each other every day and once you add in the weird sexual encounters… no wonder the kid wanted a break.

He came to the conclusion that she really did hate him.

In an instant he threw the bottle of liquor in a short burst of anger. It smashed close enough to Hanji against the wall that it shut her up and somewhat startled her. She looked back over to the corporal and saw that he had stuck his face right down on the table, arms were all around him. She felt concern for him. Clearly, this didn't settle right for him and the copious amounts of alcohol didn't exactly help at all, in fact it made it about ten times worse. Even though she met up with Petra crying Hanji still couldn't help the twinge of sympathy in her heart for Levi.

"Just take some deep breaths and you'll be alright," she said.

"I _am_ calm," he said, lifting his head slightly. "It's _Erin_ who's the problem."

"Um, corporal," she said slowly, "Erin isn't even here. You understand that don't you?"

"It doesn't matter if she's here or not," he said. "What matters is that every time she's around my feelings start to cloud my judgement and reasoning."

She smiled. Aw, it seemed that he really was either in love or starting to fall in love. It was so adorable and yet kind of sad. Being drunk when realizing one's feelings wasn't exactly optimal especially when you start smashing stuff. And he just sounded so miserable and needing of a hug that it just earned a prolonged female: "Awwwwww…," from Hanji.

"It would be one thing if it was just physical desire this would've been solved after having sex with that prostitute, but it's… but it's…," Levi sighed softly. Rambling drunkenly. "It's annoying, distracting, and I want her, but she doesn't want me. Why doesn't she want me like I want her?" he trailed off in a slurred mess as he let his head drop again.

"Well," the scientist said, placing a hand on top of his for some sort of comfort, "if you want her to like you, you could try being nice to her. Being demanding and very controlling is just going to push her away and make her resent you. Maybe, you should start with friendly touches like pats on the shoulders or the head for a job well done to show her that you're not such a harsh guy. Also, try and see what she likes and what her dreams are. Girls like it when you ask questions about themselves, it shows you actually care and another thing—"

"Like I said, I don't need your help with women," he said spitefully.

"Clearly, you _do_ otherwise you'd be sneaking around right now in order to sleep in the same bed in the basement with her every night," she said with a sly smirk. "Because I would imagine Commander Erwin would not be very happy about you and Erin, you know, _shacking up_. You're supposed to be the one to kill her if she goes berserk and I doubt you'd kill the woman you're porking on a regular basis." she noticed the warning look in his unfocused giant pupils. "But _I'm_ not gonna say a word. What can I say?" she shrugged her shoulders. "I'm a hopeless romantic."

 **X**

The next day passed and Erin had noticed a strange shift in the dynamics by the end of the morning. It almost seemed Petra and Levi's attitudes towards her have completely switched. The amber haired woman was distant and the corporal seemed to want to be closer. He was less harsh and seemed to be more attentive. The teen figured it was a good thing, but then again she felt this certain unease about it. What did he want from her? And what did the older woman want from her? Why was she so miffed?

She had a mission this afternoon during their cleaning session: talk to Petra and get one of these mysteries solved and hopefully get things to return to how they were. She missed having a friend here to help her feel better about being the big fat elephant in just about every room she entered on this base. She didn't like to lose and that included friends. Not only that, Erin didn't even understand the issue between them. She needed to know in order to right whatever wrong she made and, of course, apologize for upsetting her.

"Petra-san?"

She looked around to try and find the older woman. She could be anywhere in this giant castle during the cleaning days the corporal demanded. So, after about a dozen times of opening different doors on different floors the teen finally found the woman. She was sweeping slowly back and forth without moving from her spot on the floor. It was clear she was upset. She was normally efficient and quick when it came to cleaning; everyone learned that you need to be quick in order not to be punished by the corporal. So she really was miserable for some reason.

"Petra-san, what are you doing?" she asked, entering the room.

"I'm cleaning, Erin," she said, not looking up or emoting very well.

"I can see that, but you're not moving at all," she said uncomfortably. "So… um… why are you—"

"Erin," the amber haired woman sighed. "I don't really want to talk right now." she turned her back to the teen.

A large frown and a deep scowl formed on said teen's face. What did she mean by 'I don't really want to talk right now'? She was constantly talking to Olou for crying out loud. And well, if she could handle the constant falsified bragging from him why couldn't she handle talking and answering a few questions from Erin? She didn't understand one bit and she wasn't going to leave without at least one question answered.

"Can you please just tell me why you're so mad at me? Then I'll leave you alone."

"I'm not mad at you," she sighed, looking at the teen reluctantly.

"Then why are you ignoring me? I thought we were friends," Erin said confusedly.

What caused this strange behavior? She said that she wasn't mad, yet she's been ignoring Erin like she's the plague and infect her by just looking at her. Did she do something to Petra unwittingly that caused her to start distancing herself from her? She had to know in order to apologize and right her wrongs. She still wanted to be the older woman's friend. She enjoyed hanging out, their talks, and making jokes about fellow teammates. She didn't want that to end without at least knowing why.

"We are friends," she sighed. "It's just that… I need time."

"For what?" the teen asked confusedly.

"To get over someone," she said. She looked around the corner out of the room and shut the door quickly. She feared being overheard and embarrassed out of her mind by her fellow teammates in a time of vulnerability. She faced the teen whose eyes were focused on the older woman, but she was still unable to look her in the eyes. "To get over Levi-heichō."

Erin wasn't even surprised by the fact that Petra liked him. She knew that already from their talk in the bathroom, you know, the night where she and the guy that her friend likes naked bodies collided into each other. Yeah, that night. But she was surprised that she was giving up on him so easily, considering her intense devotion and gratitude towards him. That was news to her, alright. Erin thought one day Levi would appreciate Petra for all that she's worth and they'd be together for the rest of their natural lives. The amber haired woman admired him so much and he seemed like someone who might one day reciprocate.

"Why?" she asked, genuinely upset for her. "You like him, don't you?"

" _Liked_ him," she stressed. "But either way, it wouldn't matter… not with _you_ around."

The teen's brows deepened in confusion. What did she have to do with any of it? How in the world was she involved with this romance? She didn't like the corporal in that fashion and she was still feeling the dregs of her anger stew inside her from the episode they had last night. So no, she didn't see herself as the problem. He was. But she wanted to see where the young woman was going with this, so she simply asked.

"What does that mean?"

"Levi-heichō is totally in love with you."

"HUH?!"

"Oh, Erin, you didn't know?" Petra looked sympathetic for teen's naïvety. She sighed softly before continuing. "Levi-heichō is completely in love with you. It's kind of weird actually since he doesn't really get emotionally involved with anything, but it's kind of sweet. Well, sweet for you, but bittersweet for me. I mean I was the one who—"

"Wait!" the teen said loudly, clearly freaked out. "You think that he likes me?"

"No, I said, 'he _loves_ you'," Petra said with an amused smirk at the teen's reaction. "And well, he does. I've known him long enough to know that when I see it."

Levi loves Erin? That sounded absolutely and incredibly ridiculous in every single sense of the phrase. If you replace 'love' with 'hate' then yes that was plausible and something the teen could believe. But love? No just no. If that was love on him she didn't want to see infatuation or hatred on him. He clearly didn't handle his emotions well. So the teen had a hard time believing that the corporal loved her in a slightest sense.

But why did she feel this weird jolt of electricity deep in her gut at the idea of someone who was in love with her? Weird. Why should she care if someone loved her when that was clearly bullshit? But was it though? He didn't act quite like he normally does when it came to her, a little gentler now. But he was still apathetic and didn't put up with bullshi, but still not quite the same as he treated everyone else.

"I'll let that sink in," she smiled softly before handing her the broom, "while you finish cleaning in this room."

Petra left without another word. As the teen began to sweep confusedly. She was making a little pile of dirt as she let things stew. He did always had this weird fixation on her since the day she met him in that cell where she was scared out of her mind. She remembered that day like it was yesterday.

 _"What are your intentions?" he asked her._

 _What a stupid question. Her actions in Trost gave that away quite certainly. In her Titan form she took down all those other Titans so quickly and filled with such blind unwavering hatred towards them and nothing else it was incredibly obvious. Why would he even ask such a thing?_

 _"Isn't it obvious? If ever since I was child I wanted to join the Survey Corps and kill all the Titans!"_

 _She looked at him sincerely and had to look away once more because of the intensity of his gaze. It was so unnerving. It was as if he was trying to peer into her soul and she was not feeling that oh so romantic giddy feeling that romance novels constantly harp on, but that why can't you stop looking at me like that way. And when she heard him walk towards her and heard the clank of his hands grabbing the prison bars she jumped a little._

 _"I want her," Levi said. "She's now my responsibility. But don't get me wrong, Erwin, if she goes berserk I'll kill her. Hey, brat," her head lifted to look him in the eye, "I accept your application to the Survey Corps… to my personal squad. You're mine, Jaeger."_

"Jaeger," she heard that familiar voice from behind and jumped nearly foot a high, "what's taking so long?"

"Sorry, I just got started in this room," she said. "Why don't you hit on — hit UP Petra-san about that."

Dammit, why did that woman have to put those thoughts in her head? Now, she was acting strange in front of him, incredibly uncomfortable, and uncertain as to what to do about him. She wanted space between them before knowing if it was true or not. If it was true Erin honestly wouldn't know what she would do and if it wasn't true then she would avoid Levi at all costs. It would be too weird. Way too weird and awkward.

"Are you alright? You're speaking strangely. Do you have a fever?" he said and then placed a hand on her forehead feeling the warm sweaty skin below it. "We were out in the heat all day today and that tends to fry brains."

She jumped at the gentle caress against her and moved back quickly. Her face blossomed dark red in embarrassment and at the unexpected touch. Was he just being concerned like a friend or was it some weird thing? That, you know, thing Petra mentioned that begins with an l. That thing that had her spooked to all hell and back.

"It's just," she began, crossing her arms across her stomach, "it's nothing."

"Just get back to cleaning, brat," he said with a sigh as he exited the room.

What the hell was she going to do?

 **Author's Note: Review Please ㈴2**


	10. Unintended Confession

**Guest: Them getting together will take a little time, but I plan to keep this entertaining. I promise. ㈳2**

 **Chapter Ten: Unintended Confession**

Erin was working alongside Eld today in cleaning up the stalls. He didn't hate her, he was serious, and most importantly he wasn't involved with the drama constantly encircling her life. All traits she valued highly. After all, Petra was still clearly upset with her, but somehow she didn't blame her simultaneously — that still confused her deeply. Then there was Levi who, after what the amber haired woman told the teen, creeped the girl out at the mere possibility of him having romantic feelings towards her. So yeah, Eld looked really good to Erin right now.

"You know the expedition to get to your dad's secret basement is happening tomorrow, right?" Eld asked.

Erin nodded, feeling her stomach twist in knots. She was nervous beyond compare. There was a lot riding on her success. One, she couldn't fail with many, many bodies otherwise she'd be killed. Not to mention she wouldn't be able to bear the guilt for even being semi-responsible. Two, she couldn't fail for the fact that they'd lose valuable information that could aid in killing and gaining knowledge of the Titans…. Knots twisted tightly in her stomach, in a sickening fashion, not a pleasant one.

Anxiety was definitely strong in this one.

"Are you okay?" he said, eyebrows furrowing in concern. "Your face is green."

"Yeah…, I'm fine," she said softly.

He shrugged, taking her word for it, and continued to get back to cleaning. But the teen took a seat on the brick framing around the wide and semi open horse stall. She swallowed the lump and bile in the back of her throat. She was incredibly nervous and apprehensive to the point that she just needed a moment to catch her breath and forget the fact that her impending doom was just around the corner. Tomorrow. Tomorrow for crying out loud.

Her partner turned around and called her name to get her attention that he was handing over the new mulch for the stalls. But she was so distracted that when she realized what was going on it was too late. She leant forward quickly, trying to grab the mulch, but it slipped from her grasp completely and sprung forward from her hands. It fell and splattered all over the man walking by who happened to be none other than Olou.

"I'm so sorry!" Erin exclaimed for dumping a huge moist mess all over her teammate.

"How dare you dump wood shavings on the Great Olou!" he shouted angrily.

"Again, I'm sorry," she apologized.

 **…**

After that incident she awaited punishment for being a clumsy idiot. She knew he'd do so. But as she waited and waited in the room of her basement…, well, nothing happened. She expected him to come busting in her room and tell her to clean the windows without anyone to support her while she was hanging mid-air. But no, that didn't happen. So maybe, just maybe, Petra was right. Perhaps Levi did love Erin or at least like her more than everyone else.

She shook her head furtively. That was ridiculous. People in love didn't act like this, she was sure of it. They were supposed to be relatively the same age, be kind to one another, and be legitimately romantic. She didn't feel — or at least when searched her feelings — she didn't feel anything remotely in the category of love. But then again she's never been in love and has nothing to compare it to.

Gah!

Why was she even contemplating this? He didn't love her and she didn't love him. That was how it was. So why even try to find something that isn't there? There's no point to it. Levi didn't love anyone, he was a distant, cold, bitter man! But he was beginning to be nicer to her and that, inadvertently, worry her. Was this the calm before the storm? That had to be it. He was lowering her defenses, so he could do something incredibly mean.

 _Knock._

 _Knock._

 _Knock._

Uh-oh. She felt a daunting sense of foreboding. Was that him? Was he going to kick her in the head again? He did say he wouldn't do that to her, but she didn't trust him _not_ to. Oh no, there were those swarming bats again in the pit of her stomach. Should she chicken out and pretend that she's sleeping? No! She wasn't a coward. She was going to face her problem head on. That was what made Erin Erin after all: a strong, smart, sensual woman.

"Come in," she squeaked.

 _Dammit!_

She heard the door open and the heavy footsteps down the stairs. And Erin stood up off her bed, not wishing to be seen on it by anyone, especially Levi, who she was creeped out by rather thoroughly. Why did Petra have to tell her that and mess with her head? It was as if she did it on purpose. But then again she'd rather be informed than left in the dark if this matter happened to be true — which she highly doubted by the way.

"Jaeger," he called as he stepped into her room.

"Yes sir?" she asked, unable to meet his eyes.

"You forgot to clean the windows today," he said. "Do it tomorrow when your partner Eld can assist you with staying suspended in the air. Remember do not leave any streaks _I_ can tell the difference." he turned on his heel and began to mount the stairs.

 _What_? That was _it_? That was his big speech and possible punishment? He didn't even mention or seem to care that she dumped mulch on Olou and screwed up. She was pretty sure any other member of the team would be punished. Why was she an exception? What was wrong with him? She had to ask. She couldn't skirt around this crap anymore. She had to know.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

He stopped and turned around to face her. His eyes were hard and showed a mild look of confusion at the teen. But she stood her ground. She was going to get an explanation out of him and be done with this bullshit. She wanted things to go back to the way they were before Petra got heartbroken and she saw him have sex with some prostitute in his room. That would be nice. To have a little time travel machine to work in her favor, but that was impossible of course. So she'll do the best she can.

"What are you going on about now?" he asked, tone bored.

"What IS this?" she reiterated with quite a bit of emphasis.

"Don't get your panties in a twist, Jaeger, I—"

"No," she interrupted swiftly. "I mean, what is _this_? The nicer treatment, letting punishments slide? Do you like me or something?"

 _Please say no, please say no, please say no_ , she thought rather desperately. Perhaps she's imagining things and he'll call her out on it, punish her for it, and then things could start to go back to normal again. She craved some form of normalcy in her life and if he was in love with her… well, that kind of fucked things up for that.

"Like you?" he said. He walked forward, back down the stairs, and closer to her. She backed up a little when he was about two feet away, craving space from him. "I do."

That's it. That's what Erin needed to hear to confirm all of her worst fears. A look of absolute horror struck her face as she moved away from him. "Oh no. No…," she whispered hoarsely as she clutched her stomach as if she was going to be violently sick. And after a moment, she turned towards him and demanded. "Are you out of your mind?!" she yelled exasperatedly.

"It's not so unusual," he said in his usual collected voice, a perfect foil to her anger and panic. "Two people, in the workplace… feelings develop."

"No! Feelings do not develop. No feelings!"

He began inching closer and closer to her to which she avoided, moving quickly to get away from him. She didn't want to be anywhere near him right now. She was in full blown panic mode to get away from him and his supposed feelings towards her. She didn't accept and didn't want to deal with it. She just wanted to be as far away from it as possible.

"You can't deny it," he told her. "There's something between us."

"Loathing. Disgust—"

"Heat. Desire—"

"Oh please, Levi, you're twice my age!"

"Age really doesn't matter when it's real," he said.

He wasn't listening. Not at all. He just kept coming up with arguments to her logic like he's thought long and hard about this. And well, for crying out loud, that made her even more freaked over this! Would there be no end to this if he's thought about it for awhile and seemed to be this determined?

"Stop!" she said. "You don't know what you mean. You don't even know what feelings are!"

He looked at her incredulously and said, "I damn well do. I think about you every night."

"You're supposed to be my detached superior!" she shouted.

"Yeah but— you're missing the point. This is real, here. I lov—"

"DON'T!" she shouted, putting her hand up in a signal to shut him up and stop everything. She couldn't hear this. Absolutely not. Not those three infamous words that would ruin everything. "Don't… say… it…. Now, I'm going."

She moved towards the door, wanting to escape this awkward entanglement and forget that this whole conversation existed. Especially about the whole almost 'I love you' thing. That wasn't alright for her. There was too much to process in this instance and she had to escape.

"Come on. We need to—"

She whipped around, green eyes ablaze as she said, "We don't need to do anything. There is no we. Understand?"

With that, she bounded up the stairs, trying to put as much distance as she possibly could between them. She was thoroughly freaked out and embarrassed by this entire experience. This was not how this was supposed to go down. He was supposed to deny everything and call her and Petra stupid for thinking up stupid things like that.

"Come back, brat," he called for her. His voice was rough, trying his hardest to keep the pain inside and from showing weakness.

But Erin was gone with a slam of the door. And Levi could feel the humiliation and hurt of rejection wash over him. He couldn't remember being more embarrassed and shamed than this. That could not have gone any worse than it did. He scared her off with his feelings and now she was running for the hills. He sat down on her bed and laid back with a pained sigh. What was he going to do?

He turned on his side, eyes expressionless. He kept the pain of rejection inside. But even so, she didn't want him and she she didn't love him. What a slap to the face and stomp to the heart that was. Why didn't she love him? He tried being a little nicer and that just confused the heck out of her. And the things she said to him. He could feel anger boiling in his gut.

 _'You don't even know what feelings are.'_

Yes, he did. He knew exactly what feelings were and he could feel one in particular overtaking the pain he felt in the center of his chest. That would be anger. Anger was clear in him at Erin's tacit rejection of him. Levi got up off her bed that smelled just like her and was determined to find her. And by God, he was going to show her exactly what _feelings_ were.

 **Author's Note: Ooh. Yeah, this one was kind of short, but it had a lot of payoff. Like Levi confessing and getting angry at her rejection. So I hope you leave me a review and tell me your thoughts.**


	11. Required Distance

**Guest: He's already been rejected, he's just incredibly unhappy about this and not liking what Erin thinks of him. Poor little guy.**

 **Guest: Sorry, I'm getting slower with updates, but I hope you're happy with this chapter. Emotions run pretty high if you know what I mean.**

 **Chapter Eleven: Required Distance**

Erin angrily stomped out on the street and paced up and down the street furiously. She wanted to walk off her problems and essentially forget them. But she couldn't see how she could forget that Levi, her superior officer, pretty much confessed his love to her. Why? Why _her_? Why not Petra or someone far more age and work appropriate and not to mention _in love with him_? She just couldn't believe he loved her. It was far too weird, odd, and unacceptable.

"What is he thinking?" she mumbled to herself, grasping strands of her hair far too hard. "Crazy bastard. I mean, who would fall in love with _me_? Is he stupid? I mean what the—"

"Hey," she heard someone shout, "crazy broad, what are you doing?"

" _Crazy broad_? Excuse me?" she said, turning towards the voice. She gasped. "Jean? What the hell are you doing here?"

"None of your business, Jaeger," he said. "Just shut your mouth."

She watched as he took a swig of amber colored liquid from a long bottle. Really alcohol? Why he so miserable? She sat down next to him against the wall, looking at him curiously. Who knew Jean drank? She didn't think any of her fellow trainees did. Sure, they've all been through hell from the Trost Invasion alone, but they were fifteen…. She supposed he, and probably others in her trainee group, were scarred and messed up enough to drink alone at night at a young age.

"Sheesh, hard drinking already?" she asked, giving him a look.

"What's it to you?" he asked, half the bottle already gone, slurring quite a bit. Hmm? Perhaps, it was liquor or something else with high concentration of alcohol.

She frowned. Then she took the bottle from his hands and easily kept him at bay when he tried to get it back from her. Just a hand to his stupid, horse face did that easily. Not only one, but two, guys she's fairly acquainted with seemed to enjoy drinking for some unknown reason. So curiously, she took a swig of the drink and immediately coughed hard at the bitter taste.

"Ugh, that's terrible," she said and then after a pause admitted. "Whoa, it just got good."

"Yeah," he said. "Now, give it back, Jaeger."

Jean tried to swipe it from her rather clumsily, but a hand to the face again easily knocked him to the ground. Erin laughed softly before taking another sip of the hard liquor.

Then several drinks later and drunken filled laughs later, they were slumped together against the wall except the bottle was empty. Before the buzz, she never thought she'd even stand Jean for longer than three seconds without either arguing with him, or becoming violent with him. He was a piece of shit to her for no reason. He was self centered and cowardly enough to hide behind Wall Sina. She couldn't stand people like him. But liquor did funny things. It made the night a little brighter, boring people seem a little more interesting, and more importantly took the troubles away. For a while, that is.

Her buzz was slipping away, fading away as the moments slipped by. Reality unfortunately started setting in. She was no longer numb to her troubles and they started washing back through her, stronger this time thanks to coming down harder from her high.

"I just don't get it," she mumbled softly. "Why would someone love me?"

"What?" Jean asked.

"This guy, my freaking superior officer who's way older than me," she sighed, "said that he loves me."

He frowned. Some guy confessed to Jaeger? Really? Sure, she was soft, had nice skin, smelled good, and had pretty flowing hair down her back and shoulders. He shook his head free of those thoughts. What was he thinking about again? Oh right, why someone would want her? She was a pain in the ass with a temper, and had Mikasa wrapped around her finger. And the biggest insult regarding Mikasa was that Jaeger didn't seem to care at all. Since Jaeger hated him Mikasa didn't like him. Jaeger was the worst!

"Your boss tried to fuck you?" he asked callously.

"What? No, stupid," she said, pushing at his face slightly with no real force as she giggled shortly. After a sigh, she explained: "I just don't get it. I'm not that special unless you count the whole Titan thing. I don't see how that kind of special equals 'I love you'. It's creepy and weird."

"Aw come on, Jaeger, I'm sure there's a whole lot of guys who'd love to get their hands on you. I mean, you've got really pretty… lips. Really pretty lips."

She swallowed uncomfortably and looked away from the sincerity and proximity of his face. Psh, Jean Kirstein, of all the assholes in the world, telling her she has lovely lips? Bullshit. The guy probably thought she was ugly since he hated her. After all, attraction went up or down when it came to personality. Someone could be the most beautiful person in the world, but if there also the worst person in the world would not get into many relationships. And Jean is annoying and not exactly beautiful to her.

"Oh please," she snorted in amusement, "you're just saying that 'cause you're drunk."

"No, no," he said. "Well yeah, I _am_ drunk, but you are very pretty even if I want to strangle you sometimes."

He sat back up against the wall closer to her this time, no longer slouching. He began to tower over her shorter form, closing the space between them. Frowning, she looked at his horse face with growing confusion. She still thought it was ridiculous that he of all people that hated her would find her pretty in the slightest. But…

Wait.

Why could she feel Jean's alcoholic breath was on her face?

She looked up just in time to see him press their lips together. Erin gasped softly in complete surprise. Then she felt a tongue slip into her mouth and hands grasp her cheeks rather clumsily. She tried to pull back, confused, and completely taken aback by it. But… the feel of his tongue rubbing against hers, his thumbs stroking back and forth over her cheeks, and the alcohol in her veins were quickly short circuiting her brain. What was previously wrong in her mind was no longer minded. So she moaned softly and sunk into it, burying her fingers in his hair, just wanting to feel. Use him to feel.

Suddenly, Levi stopped dead in his tracks. He couldn't control or deny the rush of anger and overwhelming jealousy inside him at what he saw. He thought he was going to vomit or strangle the boy that was kissing the girl he loved. And, it was clear she wanted it too since she was kissing him back, holding onto him tightly, and let out a soft, little moan. God he wanted, no ached, to be the guy kissed, clung to by her, and to be the one to cause those sounds. But instead he was causing her so much trouble that she kept trying her hardest to get away from him and then start making out with someone else. Someone that _wasn't_ him.

The anger faded into deep sadness and heartbreak, deflating and depressing him.

Why didn't she love him? What could Kirstein give her that he couldn't? To be completely honestly, he could give her more than him. Levi was far stronger than that horse faced fuck and could protect her from Titans during expeditions for humanity. He could be loving to her and make her feel special if she needed it. Not to mention, he could guarantee that he was a much better lover than some kid who's probably never even had sex before in his life except with his own hand. He knew he was better where it counted, so why didn't she love him? Why?

He turned away not wanting to see that ever again otherwise he'd probably end up murdering that _boy_. That would be pretty bad. Even if he maimed the boy, beat him black and blue, Erin would hate him so much and probably beat Levi black and blue too as pay back.

Erin sighed sleepily, walking down the stairs basement stairs after closing the door. She was exhausted, wanting to go straight to bed and get some proper sleep for her first expedition tomorrow. But she stopped dead in her tracks and gasped in surprise when she saw none other than the man vowed to avoid for at least the rest of the night: Levi-heichō.

"What the hell?!" she gasped, clutching her heart.

He looked over at her with unfocused eyes. Jealousy began to rear its ugly head once more at the sight of the woman he loves with messy hair that looked as if fingers ran all through them, and obviously kiss swollen lips. He could feel a growl bubbling at the back of his throat that quickly turned to vile that he had to push down. His head dropped, fighting the urge not to vomit from all the alcohol in his system.

"Are you drunk?" Erin asked, looking him in the face with her hands on her hips and a little sympathy on her face.

"No," he said, then he attempted to cross his legs, but he fell backwards onto her bed, proving himself wrong. After a pause and a proper sit up he said grudgingly, "Yes."

She briefly closed her eyes before replying, "You're tanked off your ass and you're pissed." she let out a long sigh whilst running her hand down her face. "Why do I have a feeling that this is gonna end so very badly?"

She so was annoyed and tired simultaneously that she considered rolling him on the floor and going to bed. Although, she doubted Levi of all the cranky drunks in the world would take kindly to this. But honestly, she could care less, she wanted to sleep in her bed without him there. She had a kind of relationship sort of thing with Jean and she figured he wouldn't exactly _appreciate_ her 'sleeping' with another man.

"You're surprised that I'm in love with you? Well, you can't imagine how surprised I was when I found that you're with that Kirstein boy—"

She interrupted with a sigh, "Corporal, I—"

"—That what we've been doing here means something," but he continued rather softly.

Okay, that settles it Drunk Levi equals Super Blunt Levi and Anti Levi all in one disorienting package. She was rather thrown by it. Sure, the corporal was super honest with whatever came to mind while still keeping up this detached and uncaring attitude…, but claiming there was something between them when there wasn't? That was just ridiculous. He knew what happened when he ended up confessing to her. She didn't particularly want anything romantic from him and made that abundantly clear. The most she wanted from him was a smooth working relationship that's all.

"You're the liar, Erin," he said boldly, complete seriousness in his tone. "There is something going on between the two of us and you know it." he got up from her bed and stood just a few short feet from her, causing her to tense up in apprehension. "You're lying to me, you're lying to Jean, and most of all you're lying to yourself…. I can prove it."

He grasped her face and she told him no, but he smashed their lips together anyways. She gasped in shock as his lips moved earnestly against non-responsive ones, trying to elicit something, anything from her. He desperately wanted her to show and give him as much love as he was feeling, but she wasn't having any of it.

Her hands tried their hardest to pull his off her face and free herself, but of course he was strong and drunkenly determined. But Erin was adamant and strong too. The unwanted lips against hers were hard and wet and his breath reeked of alcohol. She wanted him off of her. _Now_.

When Erin finally got him off her face she said hastily, "Levi-heichō, no, don't! What the hell's wrong with you?!"

He freed his hands from her restrictive grip and grabbed the back of her hair like he saw the Kirstein boy do, trying to prove himself the better choice out of the two of them.

"Lie about this," he said.

He went in for another kiss, but she pushed his face up and away from hers with both hands to keep him at bay rather desperately. She didn't want this and was determined to get him to stop or come to his senses.

"Stop it. You're better than this. Come on!" she grunted, trying to reason with him.

"That's where you're wrong," Levi said.

She balled her hand into a fist against his throat, preparing to defend herself from him. This was going way too far. He had no right to invade her personal quarters, force unwanted kisses — pretty much mouth molest her — even if he was completely wasted. This was ridiculous and if she could use 'molest' and 'Levi' in the same sentence then they both really _really_ had a problem.

But he suddenly slumped over her shoulder, his weight completely on her to the point that she had to steady herself. Erin closed her eyes briefly in relief as her fist relaxed. She sighed softly and set him down on the floor a little more gently than she would've initially a few seconds ago, but she officially just didn't give a crap anymore. She was exhausted and emotionally spent. She'd beat the crap out of him later if he didn't apologize in the morning, corporal or not.

Before she even hit the mattress she was already sound asleep.

X

"Jesus, she's a heavy sleeper," Erin could barely hear, thinking perhaps it was apart of a once very good dream. "Well, I did my job, she's here and ready for the taking. Pay up."

Emerald green jewels snapped wide open. She was greeted by the sight of the prostitute that she caught Levi in the act of having sex with. She tried desperately to get up and then demand what was going on, but discovered she was tied at the hands and feet unable to move. That didn't mean she didn't stop trying though.

"What the hell is going on? Where am I? Let me go!" she demanded angrily.

"I don't think so. Here's your reward, Maria," a woman's voice the brunette recognized quite clearly said.

" _Annie_?"

 **Author's Note: please review.**


	12. Corporal Punishment

**Chapter Twelve: Corporal Punishment**

The cold draft of the floor and the dust bunnies rolling across Levi's face stirred him awake. He sat up and swiped away the filth expertly, never one to put up with it. He stood up, holding his head tiredly, and crawled into bed. He thought it was his own and was confused as to why he passed out on the floor. Usually, he hit the bed just fine and slept the night. But this time was different for some reason. He couldn't remember, not a thing, blacked it out he supposed.

Wait. Why was the scent of Erin's hair against his pillow?

Levi sniffed the pillow tiredly, wondering if his nose was simply playing tricks on him from the abnormal smell. Nope, it was some sort of flower mixture that he couldn't recall a specific name for, but the strong heady scent was now just purely Erin in his mind. Now, with that said, why did his pillows smell like her hair? Could it be that…? No…. Did he get so drunk that he slept with her and ended up rolling on the ground in the middle of the night? That was ridiculous. Even if he did he sure as hell would've remembered doing so and would most likely be naked if that really happened.

He closed his eyes forcefully, his brows knitted in frustration as bits and pieces of last night's memory flashed behind his eyelids. He remembered forcefully and sloppily smashing their lips together and feeling tiny hands pushing at his face. He winced at the memory, trying to block it out. He remembered her fingers pushing at his face, trying to get him away from her and his kisses as she pleaded for him to stop. Guiltily, he ran a hand down his face and swallowed thickly. He was glad that he passed out before any of that went further and did something completely unforgivable to her.

But either way he knew he needed to apologize.

"Jaeger," he whispered groggily, lifting his hand over to her side of the bed in the dark to try and wake her. He needed to apologize now. He shook the lump under the covers and got nothing. "Jaeger? Wake up, now." Annoyed, he gripped the blankets and ripped them aside and saw that underneath them there was only a couple of pillows there. "What the hell?" he said.

He stood up. Yet again, the person under his ward was gone and he only had himself to blame for not keeping his hands and lips to himself. But despite it being his fault it didn't mean he was sick and tired of this. She was like a beast that refused to be caged in any way, craving her freedom and wanting it more than anything. Whether that be inside the walls or inside the Scouting Legion's castle. She left any time she felt trapped. Well, he was so sick and tired of her crap he was going to chain her to the wall until morning.

He walked out of the basement and planned to go on a manhunt that would leave most people in his way quite fearful of him. His thin brows were furrowed deeply and his lips were pulled tight. He was both frustrated with Erin and himself. It felt like they were running around and circles and tonight he planned to put an end to it.

"Levi-heichō," he heard someone call.

He faced him and saw him visibly flinch before straightening up rather fearfully. Levi supposed he was wearing a scarier face than usual. Even if his facial features didn't change all that much when he was angry he figured he didn't have the friendliest of faces to begin with.

"What? Speak quickly," he wanted to be rid of this man to go look for Erin and possibly beat her senseless.

"It's just that… your wife needs to leave before we set ou—"

"What?" Levi interrupted. "Dumbass, I don't have a wife. Who the fuck did you let back here?"

His eyes narrowed, a suspicious feeling clawing at him like something was horribly wrong, not the usual kind of wrong that went down. It was almost like this was colossally wrong the kind that can't be solved with a quick and easy solution. That kind of wrong.

"This woman. She, uh, had dark hair, a pretty but scary face, and— UGH!"

In a millisecond his back was plastered to the wall by the considerably short man before him. And when the poor guard looked down at the corporal he swallowed his excess saliva from the fear. For a moment there he thought he might just get murdered by humanity's strongest.

"What was this woman's name?" he asked.

"Sh-she didn't tell me. Please don't hurt me!" he pleaded, voice growing hysteric, and nearly brought to tears since he feared for his life that badly. "She told me she had permission given by you and we've seen her with you before, so I thought it was fine!"

Levi let go of the man's throat and let him drop to the floor as realization began to dawn on him. Erin, a new hope for humanity, was missing and Maria, the prostitute he slept with, who met Erin had been back here on the same night. The cogs in his head slowly began turning and putting two and two together. His grey eyes slowly widened when it all finally came together: Maria had kidnapped Erin for some reason and this was all his fault.

The person under his ward — no, the woman he loved — had been kidnapped and could be dead for all he knew. And it was all because of the fact that he hired a prostitute for sex to distract him from going after what he really wanted. Because of shallow reasons, such as bodily urges, Erin was taken from her.

All that could be heard throughout the hall was quickly stomping footsteps doing his best to get to his room as quickly as possible. He needed his gear, he needed his swords, and needed to find Maria and make her spill her guts… perhaps literally. He was on a mission. Almost murderous rage was fueling Levi to find Erin and get her back to him.

Unfortunately for the corporal, his tunnel-like vision towards his goals had its downsides like how he wasn't aware of his surroundings and how much noise he was making. The stomping of his little feet actually alerted everyone who was getting ready for the expedition in just under an hour and made them poke their head out the door to see what was the issue. They, of course, were greeted by the sight of an angry scary little man thundering down the hallway.

"Levi-heichō?" Petra asked curiously. "What in the world are you doing?"

She was met with silence, so she looked over at her other teammates curiously to see if they were just as confused. And they were. This wasn't like their corporal. He was usually sharp and answered in some manner when someone asked him a question. So without a word the team followed their leader, wanting to get to the bottom of this.

"Heichō, what are you doing?" Eld asked. "We have an expedition to get to in about two hours."

"The expedition is canceled. There's no Erin to unlock her father's basement," he said finally snapping the final buckle on his equipment. "I'm getting her back. Move."

All of them looked at Levi in complete shock and he scoffed annoyedly at them before shoving past them easily. His feet easily decreased the distance between his room and the exit. He was on a mission to get Erin back and wasn't going to be deterred from it. He swore when he got her back he wasn't going to let her out of his sight. Apparently, everyone wanted her in some way whether it be her virginity or power they wanted her.

"Wait!" the squad called, catching up to their silently seething leader. They caught up with him and attempted to match his stride, but he was practically power walking towards the door, so it was rather difficult to keep up.

"What do you mean there's no Erin? Where did she go?" Petra asked, trying to keep calm.

"I don't have time to explain. Either get out of my way or help me," he said, not looking at any of them.

"We have to tell Erwin-danchō what happened and take care of this," Eld said.

"What did happen?" Gunther asked.

He ignored them, not finding any value in what they were saying and just focusing on getting Erin back. He needed to find Maria and make her talk. If there was any moment he regretted more it would be sleeping with her for one upsetting Erin that night and two for getting the teen kidnapped. Levi tried to fight down the guilt threatening to slow him down, but his internal seething towards Maria motivated him to keep going to kick her ass.

"Levi-heichō! Talk to us," Olou said. "Levi-heichōōōō!" he whined, dragging it out childishly.

Since they got zero traction from him the team stopped and watched the angry short man exit the building with a loud slam of the door. They looked at each other, silently wondering what to do next.

"You boys need to stop Levi-heichō and I'll go get Erwin-danchō," Petra said.

"Why do you get the easy job?" Olou whined again, looking down at the shorter woman.

"Because I'm faster than all of you and honestly maybe you could stop Levi-heichō if all three of you jump him from behind. Maybe," she laughed shortly and ironically. "Good luck. Bye."

With that she rushed down the hall, heading towards their leader's sleeping quarters to inform him of this really crappy news. It seemed there wasn't any time to argue with Petra's plan and it seemed solid enough if the rest of the team didn't fear for their safety for taking on humanity's strongest when he was pissed. Gulp.

"Well, boys," Olou said, clapping his hands together nervously. "Ready to die?"

"Not really, but we don't exactly have a choice," Gunther sighed.

When Petra came to a halting stop in front of the commander's door she was panting and fighting for breath. Her hands were on her knees and she was wheezing; she may be athletic, but she didn't infinite stamina. Seeing as she took two flights of stairs two steps at a time she was surprised she was dying. Once she could properly breathe she knocked on the door tiredly.

"Erwin-danchō, open up please. This is very important," she said.

He opened the door, looking down at the small woman, wondering why she was here. What was so important that she couldn't wait until they met up for the expedition?

"Yes?"

"Erin… Erin Jaeger," she began uncomfortably, not sure how to put it to avoid his wrath. She couldn't think of a way so she's just be blunt about it, "is missing. Levi-heichō has the most information about it. We're getting him now."

Livid wasn't the word that he would use to describe Erwin's mental state. He was beyond that. The kid they based this entire operation off and planning to use as an advantage against the Titans was missing and Levi was somehow involved, the guy who was supposed to keep her in line. Levi had one job and he fucked up he better have a damn good reason why Erin is missing. Ooh. No one wanted to be around Erwin in this moment.

And Petra was definitely picking up on those vibes and that's why she easily moved out of his way after he slammed his door shut. Then she followed behind him at a safe distance.

"Levi!" Erwin called.

He was trying to get his attention when he witnessed he and the rest of his teammates trying to wrestle him to the ground and immobilize him. A black eye was beginning to form, Eld was suffering from several bruises. And Gunther was getting his arm twisted at what looked to be a painful angle. They were all crying out from their squad leader's painful ministrations. It would be hilarious if the situation wasn't so serious.

"What?" he asked, dropping Gunther to the ground uncaringly.

"Where is Jaeger?" he asked.

"Missing," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "These idiots were trying to stop me from finding her."

"And why is she missing? What happened? Tell me."

It seemed this wasn't going to be handled all by himself and he was going to have to tell Erwin what happened. He would be in quite a bit of trouble for his indiscretions, but if it got Erin back and safe from whatever danger he got her in. If he wanted her back Levi had to be honest.

"A few weeks back I brought in a prostitute on the base for… obvious reasons. Then last night she came in and took Jaeger in the middle of the night," he said.

Everyone looked at him in shock for going against the rules and ultimately being the cause for humanity's new hope getting kidnapped and in possible danger of her life. Because he was so desperate to get his rocks off the prostitute he paid for got Erin taken.

"Levi…," Erwin began, trying to control his voice, "if you don't get Erin back and take responsibility for this, humanity's strongest or not, you will be either imprisoned or executed for treason." his face was stone cold and deadly serious.

 **Author's Note: please review.**


	13. No Sympathy for the Female Titan

**Ashley: Thanks a bunch.**

 **Penguin: Really? This is one of your favorite fanfictions? That makes me so happy! Thank you!**

 **AOTFMAAmazing: Surely.**

 **Ellie cooper: Should be enjoyable.**

 **anonymousfangirl: Thank you and I'm updating right now.**

 **Guest: Yep, Levi screwed up pretty badly.**

 **Chapter Thirteen: No Sympathy for the Female Titan**

The wet shift of her wrists alerted her to the position they were in. Her head was throbbing, pulsing in time with the pain in her temple. Sluggishly she tried to open her heavy lidded eyes and gain a sense of bearings. She whined softly. Why was she still in pain? Her regenerative powers usually had her healed fairly quick.

"Open your eyes, Jaeger," she heard the cold voice of none other than Annie. "No need to pretend you're sleeping."

Her green eyes opened immediately at the realization that she wasn't alone. Confusion and hurt was visibly present on her face. This was her fellow trainee, aloof friend. How could she do this to the military, the expedition, to her? Maybe this was some kind of sick joke. She had to know.

"I don't understand," she said roughly due to her dry throat. "Why are you doing this?"

She looked at the girl curiously whilst also taking in her surroundings. Annie was sitting against against one of the pillars, arms crossed over her chest, one knee bent, and her head inclined slightly as if she was resting a few minutes ago. From what Erin could tell they were underground in an old prison-like area. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.

"You wouldn't understand and I don't have to justify myself to you," she said.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?!" she demanded, anger boiling in her fiercely.

"No. Now shut up," the blonde responded.

Erin watched her closely. Her normally stoic face looked somewhat different than it usually did. It was tighter, tenser like she was holding something back. She didn't know what. Very rarely did Annie emote, so she didn't know what she could possibly hold back.

"Of course you wouldn't get it," she said. "You're always so optimistic, believing you can change the world and all. You're so blind to what the situation really is and filled with so much enthusiasm for humanity. It makes so many people want to follow you and like you." she sighed. "I'm jealous that you get to be so naïve."

Erin was left not knowing what to say at first. Annie never opened up really except for the time she let Erin see a glimpse of what's going on inside her head when she said 'she couldn't just play soldier like everyone else', but other than that the brunette had never been able to understand her fellow trainee. But Annie was jealous of how naïve she was? What did Annie know that Erin didn't?

"What am I naïve to, Annie?" she questioned.

"I'm not telling you," she said. "You'll find out soon enough when we move out tomorrow night."

"Move out?! Where are we going?! Why tomorrow?!" she exclaimed, panic was starting to seep in.

"I'm not stupid. I told that Maria prostitute that we'd be on the move tonight. Your little boyfriend will go after you while stay here."

"Boyfriend? Are talking about Jean?" she asked confusedly.

Jean didn't have command over anyone to go and search for her. Annie wasn't even in the Survey Legion and she knew that. So why would Jean matter in the grand scheme of whatever Annie's planning?

"Oh? You and Jean are a thing? You two have the weirdest ways of expressing love," Annie scoffed. "I meant that Levi guy by the way. He's in love with you; Maria told me. So that means he's going to try his best to get you back. I'm staying clear until he's on the wrong path told by Maria."

"Annie, this is insane," she exclaimed. "We're friends. You taught me fight moves and I tried to get you to talk to me."

There was a small pause as Annie took a deep breath before she said, "It wasn't real. Our friendship is fake."

Erin's brows narrowed deeply at the blonde. She wasn't going to lie, her feelings were hurt. She took friendships very seriously since in her younger years she didn't have a lot friends — her temper was even worse than now. But she still had a temper and when her feelings were hurt she lashed out.

"We're done here," she said, her voice shaking with anger.

"What?" Annie questioned.

"I said we're done here. Get out!"

"Erin…."

"I don't want to look at you! Get out! Get out! GET OUT!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs.

For fear of being heard, and no gag available to her, Annie left the room to go stand watch and appease the shrieking girl. Supposedly, no one could be heard down in these old penal systems, but she was going to take the chance. She wouldn't let her plan concave just because Erin had a good set of lungs and a fierce temper.

Erin let her head drop and closed her eyes tightly, desperately wishing this wasn't happening. Maybe this was a dream. A really weird and graphic dream that should be officially renamed a nightmare. The scouting mission that was now botched seemed like a run through a patch of daisies compared to this.

She was extremely stressed, sad, and clueless as to how to get out of the situation she'd been shoved into. How did she even get here? Who was Maria? How did this 'Maria' know where she was?

X

Maria was leaning against the brick wall in a somewhat dark alley, her face was heavily made up, her hair tied into somewhat stylish bun, and dressed proactively. She was clearly fishing for work, hoping to reel in someone with a decent amount of cash. She just couldn't believe a world focused on killing Titans would care about prostitution. It was a typical day for her.

But didn't expect in her typical day to be interrupted by an arm coming into contact with her neck, pinning her to the brick wall. She grunted painfully, looking down at who did it. And then smirked.

"Back for round two, Levi?" she teased. "Still can't get pussy from that teen brat? How shameful."

Levi pressed his arm harder against the woman's throat in his silent anger. This was her fault. He couldn't help putting the blame on her, even though in all honesty if he hadn't let her back on the base than this never would've happened and the Scouting Mission would still be on. But it did nothing to stop his anger from boiling just under his skin.

"Heichō!" Petra exclaimed. "If you kill her she won't tell us where Erin is!"

She tugged on his arm as Maria's face began to turn blue from lack of oxygen. Petra was still surprised at how far Levi would go for Erin. Never had she seen her corporal so determined and just so rawly upset. He wasn't screaming or anything, but just his general aura said that he was most definitely pissed and should be feared. She couldn't help it, but Petra could still feel this prick of jealous deep inside her. Why Erin? Sure the girl was nice, and super optimistic in their war against the Titans, but so was Petra. So why did Levi favor Erin over her? What was she missing?

Thankfully, Levi released Maria and let her drop to the ground gasping for air.

"Tell me where Jaeger is," he said.

"I'm…," pant, "not…," pant, "saying… a word," she said wickedly.

That blonde girl, Annie was it, was a scary girl. She had a scary face, and considerable strength and fighting skills for someone her size and age. Maria didn't want to come anywhere near her bedside. That and she didn't particularly like the fact that during sex with Levi he called someone else's name out, that Jaeger girl rather specifically. She wouldn't help him or that girl if she had anything to say about that.

He was going to grab her throat again and wring it, but Petra stood between them with her arms held out to block him. He narrowed his eyes at her. He didn't understand why she felt the need to interrupt him and his 'interrogation' to get their ward back. He wouldn't call himself a cruel man, but he had his limits and his general disinterest slipped away when someone he cared for was in some kind of harm. He didn't want to care. He really didn't, but once someone snuck their way up under his skin he couldn't help it if he tried. And Erin, against his better judgment, did just that.

"No. Not out in the open, Levi-heichō," she said. "We should take this somewhere privately."

"Fine," he said.

When Petra moved out of the way Levi kicked Maria across the temple, knocking her out effectively.

"Carry her," he said, walking past Eld, Gunther, and Olou.

All of them stiffened considerably. Sure, the corporal was a strict man, but never had they seen him like this. They'd seen him act fairly brutal earlier when he was fending them off, but this right here was just so vicious. For fear of their safety, they did as Levi said.

…

Maria lifted her head, feeling rope pulled tight against her wrists and ankles. She tried to move them, but they were bound to the chair. Her dark eyes snapped open and saw that she was surrounded by Levi and his squad. She knew she was in a shit ton of trouble just by the look of where she was. It looked like she was underground with one exit/entry point. And she doubted she could make it that far in the first place if she got free.

"Finally, you're awake. I thought you were going to sleep the entire day," he said. "Now, let's get straight to the point. Where is Erin and who kidnapped her?"

Maria rolled her eyes lazily. "You think I'm going to say a word?" she said, a venomous bite to her words.

"We're doing this the hard way then," he said, picking up a small knife, approaching her.

Petra, Gunther, Eld, and Olou looked away. Especially Petra. Hearing and seeing Levi, someone she loved, torturing a woman by cutting her up. All of this over the love for another woman. Petra considered herself a strong woman, and she was, but she had her limits. Before she was about to bow out and what not Olou wrapped an arm around her shoulders and brought her into his chest.

Maria screamed in agony as Levi ran the blade down her arm maliciously.

"Are you going to tell me where Erin is?"

"No, she'll… kill me…," Maria panted.

"I'll kill you if you don't tell me what I want," Levi said.

He lifted his knife to add three more cuts when she cried out.

"Wait!" she exclaimed. "I'll tell you. Please, just let me go."

"Fine," he said, leaning back.

"She left… she left with Erin," he said. "To some village beyond the walls."

Levi let out a soft sigh of both frustration and relief. It seemed that regardless if Erin was here or not they were going beyond the walls. And he'd go, most definitely. He'd get her back and apologize to her for his fuck up getting her captured, hoping she'd forgive him. He hoped she would even though he knew he didn't deserve her forgiveness.

"Lock her up, and prepare for the expedition to get Jaeger back," Levi said, turning away.

"You said you'd let me go!" Maria cried.

"I couldn't let a traitor roam free, could I?" he said, continuing to walk on.

 **Author's Note: Wow, this was a dark chapter. Not gonna lie.**


End file.
